Game apparatus and storage medium storing a game program for conducting data communications with a network

ABSTRACT

A game apparatus includes an input-output processor, and by following an instruction from the input-output processor, messages are transmitted and received with other game apparatus  12  connected via a network. The messages are transmitted and received in an electronic mail format, and has identification information of an application being a creation source of the message as well as general information, such as a transmission source, a destination and a subject as header information.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of priority from Japanese PatentApplication No. 2006-311671, Japanese Patent Application No.2006-311830, Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-312113, and JapanesePatent Application No. 2006-312230, the content of each of which isincorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF PRESENT EXEMPLARY ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

The present exemplary illustrative embodiments relate to a gameapparatus and a storage medium storing game program. More specifically,the present exemplary illustrative embodiments relate to a gameapparatus and a storage medium storing a game program being capable ofexecuting an application utilizing data via a network.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF PRESENT EXEMPLARY ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

An example of a game apparatus and storage medium capable of executingan application via a network is disclosed in a Japanese Patent Laid-OpenPublication No. 2002-253866 (published Sep. 10, 2002). In this gamesystem, a user who wants to play a communication game makes a priorregistration to a game service. The content of the registration isregistered in a game server offering the game service. At a time ofplaying a communication game, a game apparatus logs in to the gameserver to perform a communication game with other game apparatus whichlogs in to the game server. The game apparatus can transmit a message toother game apparatus or other device via the game server.

However, in the technique described above, the following problems arise.A user needs to make a prior registration to the game service at a timeof playing a game by means of a communication. Furthermore, a developerneeds to develop a game server, resulting in higher cost. In addition,in order to transmit a message from one game apparatus to other gameapparatus, the one game apparatus needs to log into the game server, andthe other game apparatus needs to make a prior registration to the gameservice. Also, a network program for making a connection with the gameservice has to be prepared for each game program, resulting in high costin software.

Additionally, the following problems arise with the technique describedabove. A game terminal receives mails from all devices, and thusreceives a mail from a transmission source undesired by a user.Especially, reception of spam may occur, and therefore, the user cannotsafely use the game terminal.

Furthermore, another example of such a game apparatus and storage mediumcapable of executing an application via a network is disclosed inJapanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-23661 (published on Jan.24, 2003), and in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-28103(published on Feb. 3, 2005). In the first game system, the game data ofa plurality of users is registered on a server, and game data isexchanged when an exchange condition is established. In the second gamesystem, game machines make communication by short distance radio toexchange game data with each other.

However, in the first game system described above, a dedicated-server isrequired, and game data is required to be registered in the server. Inthe second game system described, the game machines are required to beclose to one another, and this has to be done in a state that the samegame program is activated.

A further example of a game apparatus and storage medium capable ofexecuting an application via a network is disclosed in Japanese PatentLaid-Open Publication No. 2004-57515 (published on Feb. 28, 2004). Inthis game system, the following communication game apparatus is recited.The game apparatus has a main system including a main CPU which executesand controls a game by a game program and a communications subsystemincluding a sub CPU which executes a plurality of differentcommunication function tasks. The communications subsystem has a sharedmemory accessible by the main CPU and the sub CPU, and also has aresource management task function which manages resources of the sharedmemory with respect to the plurality of different communication functiontasks.

This communications subsystem could also be improved. When a command isreceived from the main system, downloading is made in response to thecommand. Thus, the download is not executed independent of the mainsystem. Also, the communications subsystem merely executes downloadingfor a specific game program operated on the main system.

Therefore, certain present exemplary illustrative embodiments provide agame apparatus and a storage medium storing a game program being capableof offering a communication method in high general versatility with lesscost and user's work.

Certain present exemplary illustrative embodiments provide a gameapparatus and a storage medium storing a game program which allow a userto eliminate a need of making a prior registration with respect to agame by means of a communication, and allow a wide spectrum of users toparticipate in the game by means of a communication.

Certain present exemplary illustrative embodiments provide a gameapparatus and a storage medium storing a game program allowing a user toplay a game by means of a communication without the need of developing adedicated game server.

Certain present exemplary illustrative embodiments provide a gameapparatus and a storage medium storing a game program capable oftransmitting and receiving messages of a game by means of acommunication with other game apparatuses and other informationprocessors which have not made a prior registration to the game serverwith respect to the game by means of a communication.

Certain present exemplary illustrative embodiments provide a gameapparatus and a storage medium storing a game program capable ofoffering data between a plurality of game apparatuses without providinga server dedicated for an online game.

Certain present exemplary illustrative embodiments provide a gameapparatus and a storage medium storing a game program capable of easilyproviding data between a plurality of game apparatuses, and increasingopportunities of the provision.

Certain present exemplary illustrative embodiments provide a gameapparatus and a storage medium storing a game program capable ofexecuting download for a game application independent of execution ofthe game application.

Certain present exemplary illustrative embodiments provide a gameapparatus and a storage medium storing a game program capable ofexecuting download for a plurality of game applications.

Certain present exemplary illustrative embodiments to provide a gameapparatus and a storage medium storing a game program capable of safelytransmitting and receiving communication data with other devices.

Certain present exemplary illustrative embodiments provide a gameapparatus and a storage medium storing a game program capable oftransmitting and receiving communication data with only a desired user.

Certain present exemplary illustrative embodiments adopt the followingconstructions in order to solve the above-described problems.

A first exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatus capable ofexecuting an application by means of data via a network, comprising acommunication means for transmitting and receiving data with otherapparatus via the network, a storing means having a transmission datamemory area storing transmission data to be transmitted and a receptiondata memory area storing received reception data, an applicationprocessing means for being capable of executing a desired application,and being accessible to the transmission data memory area and thereception data memory area, and a transmission-reception managing meansfor performing processing of controlling the communication means tocommunicate with the network, transmitting the transmission data storedin the transmission data memory area to the network, and storing in thereception data memory area reception data capable of identifying atargeted application received from the network, and the applicationprocessing means, by executing the application, performs a transmissiondata storing process for generating transmission data to be transmittedto other apparatus, and making the data identifiable as data for theapplication and storing it in the transmission data memory area, and areception data acquiring process for acquiring, in a case that thereception data for the application exists in the reception data memoryarea, the reception data for the application to execute processingutilizing the reception data, so that utilization of data via thenetwork is performed.

In the first exemplary illustrative embodiment, the game apparatus canexecute an application by means of data via a network. A communicationmeans of the game apparatus transmits and receives data with otherapparatuses, such as a game apparatus, a PC, a cellular phone, etc. viaa network. A storing means has a transmission data memory area storingtransmission data to be transmitted and a reception data memory areastoring received reception data. An application processing means iscapable of executing a desired application, and is accessible to thetransmission data memory area and the reception data memory area. Atransmission-reception managing means performing processing ofcontrolling the communication means to communicate with the network,transmitting the transmission data stored in the transmission datamemory area to the network, and storing in the reception data memoryarea reception data capable of identifying a targeted applicationreceived from the network. An application processing means performs atransmission data storing process and a reception data acquiring processby executing the application to thereby perform utilization of data viaa network. Here, the transmission data storing process generatestransmission data to be transmitted to other apparatus, and makes thedata identifiable as data for the application, and stores it in thetransmission data memory area. Furthermore, the reception data acquiringprocess, in a case that the reception data for the application exists inthe reception data memory area, acquires the reception data for theapplication to execute processing utilizing the reception data, so thatutilization of data via the network is performed.

In accordance with the first exemplary illustrative embodiment, thetransmission-reception managing means transmits the transmission datastored in the storing means, and receives the reception data capable ofidentifying applications to store it in the storing means, andtherefore, a transmitting and receiving function needs not to beprovided for each application. Furthermore, in a case that thetransmission data is generated, there is no need to be connected to thenetwork, thereby reducing a useless communication cost.

A second exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatus accordingto the first exemplary illustrative embodiment comprises a switchingmeans for switching between a normal state in an electric power stateallowing execution of the application and a stand-by state in anelectric power state not allowing execution of the application byrestricting electric power consumption, and the transmission-receptionmanaging means causes the communication means to make a communication inat least the stand-by state.

In the second exemplary illustrative embodiment, in a game apparatus, aswitching means switches between a normal state (normal mode) in anelectric power state allowing execution of the application and astand-by state (standby mode) not allowing execution of the applicationby restricting electric power consumption. The transmission-receptionmanaging means causes the communication means to make a communication inat least the stand-by state.

In accordance with the second exemplary illustrative embodiment, acommunication is made in the stand-by state, and therefore, the gameapparatus does not have to be activated simultaneously with anopponent's apparatus. That is, it is possible to provide a communicationmethod to a customer with an added convenience.

A third exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatus accordingto the second exemplary illustrative embodiment comprises a firstprocessing unit being as the application executing means, a secondprocessing unit being as the transmission-reception managing meansindependent of the first processing unit, and an energizationcontrolling means for energizing the first processing unit and thesecond processing unit in the normal state, and deenergizing the firstprocessing unit but energizing the second processing unit in thestand-by state on the basis of switching by the switching means.

In the third exemplary illustrative embodiment, the game apparatus has afirst processing unit being as the application executing means and thesecond processing unit being as the transmission-reception managingmeans independent of the first processing unit. In the normal state, anenergization controlling means energizes the first processing unit andthe second processing unit on the basis of switching by the switchingmeans. On the other hand, the energization controlling means deenergizesthe first processing unit but energizes the second processing unit inthe stand-by state on the basis of switching by the switching means.

In accordance with the third exemplary illustrative embodiment, in thestand-by state, only the second processing unit is energized to makeelectric power consumption less than that in the normal state.Furthermore, even in the stand-by state, the second processing unit isenergized, and therefore, it is possible to transmit and receive dataeven if an application is not executed.

A fourth exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatus accordingto the first exemplary illustrative embodiment, and the storing means isa nonvolatile memory.

In the fourth exemplary illustrative embodiment, a storing means is anonvolatile memory like a flash memory.

In accordance with the fourth exemplary illustrative embodiment,utilizing a nonvolatile memory eliminates a need of providing a powersupply for backup, thereby realizing less electric power consumption.

A fifth exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatus accordingto the first exemplary illustrative embodiment, and thetransmission-reception managing means deletes the transmission dataafter transmitting it, and the application processing means performs adeleting process on only the acquired reception data after the receptiondata acquiring process.

In the fifth exemplary illustrative embodiment, thetransmission-reception managing means deletes the transmission data tothe network after transmitting it. Furthermore, the applicationprocessing means performs a deleting process on only the acquiredreception data after the reception data acquiring process. That is,unnecessary data is deleted.

In accordance with the fifth exemplary illustrative embodiment,unnecessary data is deleted, and therefore, it is possible to prevent astorage capacity from being restricted.

A sixth exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatus accordingto the fifth exemplary illustrative embodiment, and the applicationprocessing means further executes an other application data acquiringprocess for receiving reception data for other application, and does notperform the deleting process in a case that the acquired reception datais the reception data for other application.

In the sixth exemplary illustrative embodiment, the applicationprocessing means further executes other application data acquiringprocess for receiving reception data for other application. However, theapplication processing means does not perform the deleting process in acase that the acquired reception data is reception data for otherapplication.

According to the sixth exemplary illustrative embodiment, it is possibleto save the inconvenience of the reception data for other applicationsbeing deleted.

A seventh exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatusaccording to the first exemplary illustrative embodiment, and thereception data includes application identification information foridentifying an application, transmission source information forindicating a transmission source, and overwrite information forindicating whether or not overwriting of data is allowable, thetransmission-reception managing means compares applicationidentification information, transmission source information andoverwrite information included in the received reception data, andapplication identification information, transmission source informationand overwrite information included in the reception data stored in thereception data memory area, and, in a case that reception data the samein the application identification information, the transmission sourceinformation, and the overwrite information as the received receptiondata is stored in the reception data memory area, overwrites the storedreception data to store the received reception data in the receptiondata memory area.

In the seventh exemplary illustrative embodiment, the reception dataincludes application identification information for identifying anapplication, transmission source information for indicating atransmission source, and overwrite information for indicating whether ornot overwriting of data is allowable. The transmission-receptionmanaging means compares application identification information,transmission source information and overwrite information included inthe received reception data, and application identification information,transmission source information and overwrite information included inthe reception data stored in the reception data memory area. Then, thetransmission-reception managing means, in a case that the reception datais the same with respect to the application identification information,the transmission source information, and the overwrite information asthe received reception data that is stored in the reception data memoryarea, overwrites the stored reception data to store the receivedreception data in the reception data memory area.

In accordance with the seventh exemplary illustrative embodiment, thereception data is overwritten as needed, and therefore, it is possibleto prevent useless reception data from being stored in the storingmeans. That is, it is possible to prevent a storage capacity of thestoring means from being restricted.

An eighth exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatusaccording to the seventh exemplary illustrative embodiment, and thereception data further includes overwrite priority informationindicating priority of overwriting, and the transmission-receptionmanaging means overwrites in a case that the priority information of thereceived reception data shows overwrite priority higher than thepriority information of the reception data already stored.

In the eighth exemplary illustrative embodiment, the reception datafurther includes overwrite priority information indicating priority ofoverwriting. For example, the priority represents newness and importanceof the reception data. The transmission-reception managing meansoverwrites with the received reception data in a case that the priorityinformation of the received reception data shows overwrite priorityhigher than the priority information of the reception data alreadystored. Thus, new reception data and reception data of much importanceoverwrites the older and less important one.

In accordance with the eighth exemplary illustrative embodiment, withthe reception data with a higher priority, overwriting is performed, andtherefore, it is possible to save inconvenience like being overwrittenwith undesired reception data.

A ninth exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatus accordingto the first exemplary illustrative embodiment, and the transmissiondata and the reception data are data in an electronic mail format, andtransmitted and received with other game apparatus via a mail server.

In the ninth exemplary illustrative embodiment, the transmission dataand the reception data are data in an electronic mail format, andtransmitted and received with other game apparatus via the mail server.

In accordance with the ninth exemplary illustrative embodiment,electronic mails are transmitted and received with other game apparatusover the mail server, and therefore, the game apparatus communicatedwith each other does not have to be simultaneously activated.Furthermore, the game apparatus can communicate with a PC and a cellularphone. Thus, it is possible to provide a communication method to acustomer with an added convenience.

A tenth exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatus accordingto the ninth exemplary illustrative embodiment, and the storing meansfurther includes an address book memory area for storing data of anaddress book to register an e-mail address of a predetermined opponent,and the transmission-reception managing means includes a filtering meansfor, when the reception data is not transmitted from an opponentregistered in said address book, deleting the reception data afterreception.

In the tenth exemplary illustrative embodiment, the storing meansfurther includes an address book memory area for storing data of anaddress book to register an e-mail address of a predetermined opponent.A filtering means, when reception data is not transmitted from anopponent registered in the address book, that is, when a transmissionsource is not a predetermined opponent (unidentified), deletes thereception data after reception.

In accordance with the tenth exemplary illustrative embodiment, if thetransmission source is unidentified, the reception data is deleted,thereby eliminating the need of receiving undesired data. For example,it is possible to automatically delete undesired electronic mail like aspam.

An eleventh exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatusaccording to the tenth exemplary illustrative embodiment, and furthercomprises a notifying means for, when an e-mail address is added to theaddress book, generating transmission data with a predetermined contentdirected to the e-mail address, and storing it in the transmission datamemory area, and a registering means for, in a case that the receptiondata transmitted from the added e-mail address is acquired from thereception data storing means, registering the e-mail address as anopponent with whom data is allowed to be transmitted and received.

In the eleventh exemplary illustrative embodiment, a notifying means,when an e-mail address is added to the address book, generatestransmission data with a predetermined content directed to the e-mailaddress, and stores it in the transmission data memory area. Theregistering means, in a case that the reception data transmitted fromthe added e-mail address is acquired from the reception data storingmeans, registers the e-mail address as an opponent with whom data isallowed to be transmitted and received.

In accordance with the eleventh exemplary illustrative embodiment, byreceiving a notification from the opponent which has been input in theaddress book, the opponent is registered as an opponent with whom datais allowed to be transmitted and received, thereby realizing an easyregistration.

A twelfth exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatusaccording to the ninth exemplary illustrative embodiment, and theapplication includes a message application for creating and viewing amessage in the electronic mail format, and the message applicationstores a created message in the storing means in the electronic mailformat, and displays the acquired message from the storing means on adisplay.

In the twelfth exemplary illustrative embodiment, the applicationincludes a message application for creating and viewing a message in thee-mail format. The message application stores a created message in thestoring means in the electronic mail format, and displays the acquiredmessage from the storing means on a display.

In accordance with the twelfth exemplary illustrative embodiment, duringexecution of the application, it is possible to create and view amessage.

A thirteenth exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatusaccording to the twelfth exemplary illustrative embodiment, and themessage application, when a destination of the created message is ane-mail address of the game apparatus of its own, stores the message inthe reception data area in the electronic mail format.

In the thirteenth exemplary illustrative embodiment, the messageapplication, when a destination of the created message is an e-mailaddress of the game apparatus of its own, stores the message in thereception data memory area in the electronic mail format.

In accordance with the thirteenth exemplary illustrative embodiment, themessage directed to the game apparatus of its own is directly stored inthe reception data memory area, eliminating a need of a uselesscommunication like transmitting and receiving via the mail server.Furthermore, even if the game apparatus is not connected to the network,the game apparatus can transmit a message to the game apparatus itself,it can be used as an individual notepad, and a message board for homeuse.

A fourteenth exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatusaccording to the first exemplary illustrative embodiment, and theapplication processing means performs a pausing process to request thetransmission-reception managing means to temporarily prohibittransmission and reception before and after any one of the transmissiondata storing process and the reception data acquiring process.

In the fourteenth exemplary illustrative embodiment, the applicationprocessing means temporarily stops transmission and reception by thetransmission-reception managing means before and after any one of thetransmission data storing process and the reception data acquiringprocess. For example, when the application reads the data from thestoring means, after the transmission-reception managing means transmitstransmission data, transmitting and receiving data is temporarilystopped. After the application completes reading the data, whentransmitting and receiving the data is restarted, thetransmission-reception managing means receives the reception data.

In accordance with the fourteenth exemplary illustrative embodiment,transmitting and receiving data by the transmission-reception managingmeans can be stopped or restarted, and therefore, it is possible toprevent a processing speed of an application from being drasticallyreduced, a communication response from being lowered, an unnecessarytime to access the storing means from being taken, and so forth.

A fifteenth exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatusaccording to the first exemplary illustrative embodiment, and theapplication processing means further executes a normal communicationprocess for communicating with the network without passing through thetransmission data storing process and the reception data acquiringprocess, and a pausing process for requesting the transmission-receptionmanaging means to temporarily prohibit the transmission and thereception during performing the normal communication process.

In the fifteenth exemplary illustrative embodiment, a normalcommunication process communicates with the network without passingthrough the transmission data storing process and the reception dataacquiring process. For example, in the game application, a gameapparatus can execute a communication game by communicating with othergame apparatus connected over a network. A pausing process requests thetransmission-reception managing means to temporarily prohibit thetransmission and the reception during performing the normalcommunication process.

In accordance with the fifteenth exemplary illustrative embodiment,similarly to the thirteenth exemplary illustrative embodiment,transmitting and receiving data by the transmission-reception managingmeans can be stopped or restarted, and therefore, it is possible toprevent a processing speed of an application from being drasticallyreduced, a communication response from being lowered, an unnecessarytime to access the storing means from being taken, and so forth.

A sixteenth exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatusaccording to any one of the first to fourteenth exemplary illustrativeembodiments, and the application processing means stores in thetransmission data memory area transmission data including transmissionstand-by information indicative of holding transmission in thetransmission data storing process, and the transmission-receptionmanaging means sets the transmission data in a transmittable state bydeleting the transmission stand-by information included in thetransmission data in a case that the reception data includes replyrequest information.

In the sixteenth exemplary illustrative embodiment, the applicationprocessing means stores transmission data including transmissionstand-by information indicative of holding transmission in thetransmission data memory area in the transmission data storing process.The transmission-reception managing means sets the transmission data ina transmittable state by deleting the transmission stand-by informationincluded in the transmission data in a case that the reception dataincludes reply request information. Thereafter, the transmission data istransmitted.

In accordance with the sixteenth exemplary illustrative embodiment, whendata including reply request information is transmitted, data includingtransmission stand-by information is automatically transmitted by beingreleased from the holding state in response thereto. That is, it ispossible to automatically transmit data in response to a request fromthe opponent.

A seventeenth exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatusaccording to the first exemplary illustrative embodiment, and theapplication processing means stores transmission data includingtransmission stand-by information indicative of holding transmission inthe transmission data memory area in the transmission data storingprocess, and the transmission-reception managing means for creatingtransmittable transmission data by storing a copy of the transmissiondata from which the transmission stand-by information is deleted in thetransmission data memory area in a case that the reception data includesreply request information.

The seventeenth exemplary illustrative embodiment is the same as thefifteenth exemplary illustrative embodiment except for that in a casethat the reception data including reply request information is received,a copy of the transmission data including the transmission stand-byinformation is stored in the transmission data memory area to therebymake the transmission data transmittable.

In accordance with the seventeenth exemplary illustrative embodiment, acopy of the transmission data can be automatically transmitted, andtherefore, the same transmission data can be transmitted to a pluralityof opponents.

An eighteenth exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatusaccording to the first exemplary illustrative embodiment, and thestoring means further includes a download data memory area for storingdownload data to be downloaded from a download server, further comprisesa download managing means for executing processing of causing thecommunication means to make a communication with the network in a presetschedule, and storing download data identifiable with a targetedapplication downloaded from the network for each targeted application inthe download data memory area, and the application processing meansperforms processing including a download data acquiring process forreading the download data for the application in a case that thedownload data for the application exists in the download data memoryarea.

In the eighteenth exemplary illustrative embodiment, the storing meansfurther includes a download data memory area for storing download data(content) to be downloaded from a download server. A download managingmeans executes processing of causing the communication means to make acommunication with the network in a preset schedule, and storingdownload data identifiable with a targeted application downloaded fromthe network for each targeted application in the download data memoryarea. The application processing means performs processing including adownload data acquiring process for reading the download data for theapplication in a case that the download data for the application existsin the download data memory area. This makes it possible to utilize datavia the network in an application.

In accordance with the eighteenth exemplary illustrative embodiment, thedata utilized in the application can be acquired via the network. Forexample, in the game application, data of a game map, and a game itemcan be added in correspondence with the progress of the game.Furthermore, the download data can be identified for each application,and download data of various applications can be managed by one memory,and thus realizes cost-cutting.

A nineteenth exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatusaccording to the eighteenth exemplary illustrative embodiment, andfurther comprises a notification data storing means for storingnotification data for indicating a notification to a user out of thedownload data in the reception data memory area.

In the nineteenth exemplary illustrative embodiment, a notification datastoring means, if download data is notification data for notification toa user, stores the download data in the reception data memory area.

In accordance with the nineteenth exemplary illustrative embodiment, ina case that the download data is notification data, the data is storedin the reception data memory area, and therefore, it is possible totransmit a message from the administrator as well as data to be utilizedin the application from the download server.

A twentieth exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatustransmitting and receiving data with other apparatus via a network, andexecuting a game program for utilizing the transmitted and receiveddata, and comprises a communication portion, a transmission-receptionmanaging means, a reply data storing means, a reception data storingmeans, a game processing means, a reception data determining means, andan automatically replying means. The communication portion transmits andreceives data. The transmission-reception managing means causes thecommunication portion to transmit and receive data. The reply datastoring means stores predetermined reply data for an auto-reply. Thereception data storing means stores received reception data. The gameprocessing means executes a game program designated by a user, andutilizes the reception data. The reception data determining means, in acase that the transmission-reception managing means transmits andreceives data and receives the data, stores the received reception datain the reception data storing means, and determines whether or not replyrequest information for indicating a request of a reply is included inthe reception data. The automatically replying means automatically readsthe reply data from the reply data storing means, and transmits it viathe communication portion in a case that the reception data stored inthe reception data storing means includes the reply request information.

In the twentieth exemplary illustrative embodiment, the game apparatustransmits and receives data with other apparatus via a network, andexecutes a game program for utilizing the transmitted and received data.A communication portion transmits and receives data, and thetransmission-reception managing means causes the communication portionto transmit and receive data. A reply data storing means storespredetermined reply data for an auto-reply. A reception data storingmeans stores received reception data. A game processing means executes agame program designated by a user, and utilizes the reception datastored by the reception data storing means at this time. A receptiondata determining means, in a case that the transmission-receptionmanaging means transmits and receives data and receives the data, storesthe received reception data in the reception data storing means, andthen determines whether or not reply request information for indicatinga request of a reply is included in the reception data. Theautomatically replying means automatically reads the reply data from thereply data storing means, and transmits it via the communication portionin a case that the reception data stored in the reception data storingmeans includes the reply request information. However, the reply data istransmitted to the apparatus from which a reply request is made.

In accordance with the twentieth exemplary illustrative embodiment, areply to the received data can be automatically performed, andtherefore, even when an online game is not played, it is possible totransmit and receive data with other game machine.

A twenty-first exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatusaccording to the twentieth exemplary illustrative embodiment, and theautomatically replying means deletes the reply data from the reply datastoring means after completion of transmitting the reply data.

In the twenty-first exemplary illustrative embodiment, the automaticallyreplying means deletes the reply data from the reply data storing meansafter completion of transmitting the reply data.

In accordance with the twenty-first exemplary illustrative embodiment,an auto-reply can be performed only once.

A twenty-second exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatusaccording to the twentieth exemplary illustrative embodiment, and theautomatically replying means reads and sends back the reply data everytime that data is received.

In the twenty-second exemplary illustrative embodiment, unlikely to thesecond exemplary illustrative embodiment, the automatically replyingmeans reads and transmits reply data every time that the data isreceived. For example, a copy of the reply data is transmitted.

According to the twenty-second exemplary illustrative embodiment, it ispossible to perform an auto-reply without limit on the number of times.

A twenty-third exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatusaccording to a twenty-first exemplary illustrative embodiment, and thegame processing means is for executing a game program for dealing withan item in a game via the network, the reply data includes data relatingto the item and the reception data including the reply requestinformation further includes indication information of intent to agreewith dealing with the item. In the automatically replying means,transmission data including data relating to the item is transmitted inresponse to the reception data including the reply request informationto thereby get a deal in the game.

In the twenty-third exemplary illustrative embodiment, the gameprocessing means executes a game program for dealing with an item in agame via the network. The reply data includes data relating to the item.If the reply data includes reply request information, indicationinformation of intent to agree with dealing with the item is furtherincluded. In response to the received reception data included in thereply request information by the automatically replying means, thetransmission data relating to the item is transmitted to the otherapparatus which has transmitted a reply request. Thus, it is possible toget a deal in the game.

In accordance with the twenty-third exemplary illustrative embodiment,it is possible to deal with an item with other game machine bycommunication even when the user does not play a game.

A twenty-fourth exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatusaccording to the twenty-third exemplary illustrative embodiment, and thegame processing means includes a notifying process for causing thecommunication portion to transmit notification data for notifying adeal.

In the twenty-fourth exemplary illustrative embodiment, the gameprocessing means causes the communication portion to transmitnotification data for notifying a deal.

In accordance with the twenty-fourth exemplary illustrative embodiment,it is possible to provide notification to the user in advance to therebyprompt the user to deal with an item.

A twenty-fifth exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatusfurnished with a communication portion for transmitting and receivingdata with a network and a storing portion having a download data memoryarea for storing received download data, and being capable of executingan application by utilizing the data downloaded via the networkcomprises an application processing means for executing an arbitraryapplication designated by a user, a task storing means for storingcommunication schedule data including at least download destinationinformation for each application, and a download managing means forexecuting processing of reading communication schedule data from thetask storing means, causing the communication portion to communicatewith the network on the basis of the communication schedule to downloadpredetermined data, storing in the download data memory area downloaddata identifiable with the targeted application downloaded from thenetwork for each targeted application, and the application processingmeans, in a case that the download data for the application exists inthe download data memory area, executes processing including a downloaddata acquiring process for reading the download data for the applicationto thereby perform utilization of data via the network.

In the twenty-fifth exemplary illustrative embodiment, the gameapparatus is furnished with a communication portion for transmitting andreceiving data with a network and a storing portion having a downloaddata memory area, and being capable of executing an application byutilizing the data downloaded via the network. A download area storesreceived download data. An application processing means executes anarbitrary application designated by a user. A task storing meansincludes communication schedule data including at least downloaddestination information (address, etc. of download server) for eachapplication. A download managing means causes the communication portionto communicate with the network on the basis of the communicationschedule to download predetermined data. Furthermore, the downloadmanaging means performs processing of storing in the download datamemory area download data identifiable with the targeted applicationdownloaded from the network for each targeted application. That is, thedownload data is stored in correspondence with the targeted application.The application processing means, in a case that the download data forthe application exists in the download data memory area, executesprocessing including a download data acquiring process for reading thedownload data for the application to thereby perform utilization of datavia the network.

In accordance with the twenty-fifth exemplary illustrative embodiment,it is possible to download data independent of the application, that is,except when the application is executed, and therefore, the user doesnot have to continuously instruct download during execution of theapplication. Thus, it is possible to download data of a plurality ofapplications.

A twenty-sixth exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatusaccording to the twenty-fifth exemplary illustrative embodiment, and theapplication processing means further performs a task registering processfor storing the communication schedule data in the task storing means.

In the twenty-sixth exemplary illustrative embodiment, the applicationprocessing means further performs a task registering process for storingthe communication schedule data in the task storing means. That is,during execution of an application, a download task for the applicationis registered.

In accordance with the twenty-sixth exemplary illustrative embodiment,the application can make the game machine execute download for theapplication as necessary.

A twenty-seventh exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatusaccording to the twenty-fifth exemplary illustrative embodiment, and thecommunication schedule data includes the remaining number of times ofdownloading, and the download managing means decrements the remainingnumber of times every time of downloading so as to update it.

In the twenty-seventh exemplary illustrative embodiment, thecommunication schedule data includes the remaining number of times ofdownloading. The download managing means decrements the remaining numberof times every time of downloading so as to update it.

In accordance with the twenty-seventh exemplary illustrative embodiment,by restricting the number of times of downloading, it is possible toprevent continuous wasteful downloading from being performed even afterthe data is not needed, eliminating the need of deleting an unnecessaryschedule by the user on his own.

A twenty-eighth exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatusaccording to the twenty-seventh exemplary illustrative embodiment, andthe download managing means deletes the communication schedule datahaving the remaining number of times of zero from the task storingmeans.

In the twenty-eighth exemplary illustrative embodiment, the downloadmanaging means automatically deletes the communication schedule datafrom the task storing means when the remaining number of times ofdownloading is zero.

In accordance with the twenty-eighth exemplary illustrative embodiment,similarly to the twenty-seventh exemplary illustrative embodiment, byrestricting the number of times of downloading, it is possible toprevent continuous wasteful downloading from being performed even afterthe data is not needed, eliminating the need of deleting an unnecessaryschedule by the user on his own.

A twenty-ninth exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatusaccording to the twenty-seventh exemplary illustrative embodiment, andthe download managing means further performs error detecting processingfor detecting a communication error and not performing update of theremaining number of times if an error is detected.

In the twenty-ninth exemplary illustrative embodiment, the downloadmanaging means further performs error detecting processing for detectinga communication error due to stop of the download server, etc. In thiscase, the remaining number of times of downloading is not updated.

In accordance with the twenty-ninth exemplary illustrative embodiment,it is possible to prevent the download from being ended withoutexecuting the download due to an error of the network, the server, etc.

A thirtieth exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatusaccording to the twenty-fifth exemplary illustrative embodiment, andfurther comprises a time outputting means for outputting data indicativeof a time, and the communication schedule data includes an interval ofdownloading, and the download managing means determines a estimated timefor next download on the basis of the downloading hour and the interval.

In the thirtieth exemplary illustrative embodiment, a time outputtingmeans outputs data indicative of a time. The communication schedule dataincludes an interval of downloading. The download managing meansdetermines an estimated time for next download on the basis of thedownloading hour and the interval for downloading. That is, a downloadtask is scheduled.

In accordance with the thirtieth exemplary illustrative embodiment, itis possible to set repetition of the downloading at suitable timings.

A thirty-first exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatusaccording to the thirtieth exemplary illustrative embodiment, and thecommunication schedule data further includes a past time indicative ofhow long a downloading hour can be past from the estimated time for nextdownload, the download managing means deletes the communication scheduledata in a case that the past time expires without the downloading beingmade from the estimated time.

In the thirty-first exemplary illustrative embodiment, the communicationschedule data includes a past time (allowable time) indicative of howlong a downloading hour can be past from the estimated time for nextdownload. The download managing means deletes the communication scheduledata in a case that the past time expires without the downloading beingmade from the estimated time.

In accordance with the thirty-first exemplary illustrative embodiment,if there is a time during which no downloading is performed due to somereasons, it is possible to prevent the data which becomes useless afterexpiration of the period from being downloaded.

A thirty-second exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatusaccording to the twenty-fifth exemplary illustrative embodiment, and thegame apparatus is a game apparatus switchable between a normal state ofbeing a normal energized state and allowing execution of theapplication, and a stand-by state restricting electric power consumptionand not allowing execution of the application, and the download managingmeans causes the communication portion to make a communication in atleast the stand-by state.

In the thirty-second exemplary illustrative embodiment, the gameapparatus is switchable between a normal state and a stand-by state. Thenormal state is a normal energized state, and means that execution of anapplication is possible. Furthermore, the stand-by state means a statein which electric power consumption is restricted and execution of theapplication is impossible. The download managing means causes thecommunication portion to make a communication in at least the stand-bystate. That is, even when an application is not activated, downloadingis executed.

In accordance with the thirty-second exemplary illustrative embodiment,it is possible to download even during the stand-by state in whichexecution of the application is impossible, and therefore, when the useractivates a game apparatus application to execute it, desired data canalready been downloaded, making it possible for the user to effectivelyuse the time.

A thirty-third exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatustransmitting and receiving data via a network with other apparatus, andexecuting an application by means of data transmitted and received withan apparatus registered in advance as a destination with which acommunication is allowable, comprises a communication portion fortransmitting and receiving data, a destination storing means for storingdestination data indicative of a destination, a destination input meansfor adding destination data indicative of a predetermined destination tothe destination storing means, a first notifying means for, in a casethat destination data is added by the destination input means,automatically generating predetermined data to an apparatus indicated bythe added destination and causing the communication portion to transmitit via the network, and a registering means for, in a case thatpredetermined data is received from the apparatus indicative of theadded destination after completion of transmitting and receiving thedata by the first notifying means, registering the destination data as acommunication allowable destination.

In the thirty-third exemplary illustrative embodiment, a game apparatustransmits and receives data via a network with other apparatus, andexecutes an application by means of data transmitted and received withan apparatus registered in advance as a destination with which acommunication is allowable. A communication portion transmits andreceives data. A destination storing means stores destination dataindicative of a destination. A destination input means adds destinationdata indicative of a predetermined destination to the destinationstoring means. For example, a destination of a device like a gameapparatus used by a desired user, etc. is added. A first notifyingmeans, in a case that destination data is added by the destination inputmeans, automatically generates predetermined data to an apparatusindicated by the added destination, and causes the communication portionto transmit it via the network. For example, data indicating that thedestination is registered is transmitted to the apparatus with thedestination. The registering means, in a case that predetermined data isreceived from the apparatus indicative of the added destination aftercompletion of transmitting and receiving the data by the first notifyingmeans, registers the destination data as a communication allowabledestination.

In accordance with the thirty-third exemplary illustrative embodiment,it is possible to register a destination for transmitting and receivingcommunication data only with a desired user.

A thirty-fourth exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatusaccording to the thirty-third exemplary illustrative embodiment, andexecutes an application by means of data transmitted and receivedbetween game apparatuses each of which registers each other'sdestination data. The destination is a destination for designating agame apparatus, and the game apparatus further comprises a secondnotifying means for, after registering the destination data in theregistering means, automatically generating predetermined data to thedestination, and causing the communication portion to transmit it viathe network. The registering means, after transmitting the data by thefirst notifying means, in a case that predetermined data generated inthe first notifying means or the second notifying means of the gameapparatus to be designated by the destination is received, registers thedestination data.

In the thirty-fourth exemplary illustrative embodiment, the gameapparatus executes an application by means of data transmitted andreceived between game apparatuses each of which registers each other'sdestination data. In this case, the destination is a destination fordesignating a game apparatus. A second notifying means, afterregistering the destination data in the registering means, automaticallygenerates predetermined data to the destination, and causes thecommunication portion to transmit it via the network. The registeringmeans, after transmitting the data by the first notifying means, in acase that predetermined data generated in the first notifying means orthe second notifying means of the game apparatus to be designated by thedestination is received, registers the destination data.

In accordance with the thirty-fourth exemplary illustrative embodiment,in a case that communication data is transmitted and received betweenthe same kinds of the game apparatuses of only the desired users, theboth perform the same processing to thereby confirm that the both of thegame apparatuses register each other's destinations.

A thirty-fifth exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatusaccording to the thirty-third exemplary illustrative embodiment, and thedestination is an e-mail address, and the first notifying meansgenerates data in an electronic mail format to the destination, and theregistering means registers the destination data in a case that a replymail to the data in an electronic mail format is received.

In the thirty-fifth exemplary illustrative embodiment, the destinationis an email address. Accordingly, the first notifying means generatesdata in an electronic mail format to the destination. The registeringmeans registers the destination data in a case that a reply mail to thedata in an electronic mail format is received.

In accordance with the thirty-fifth exemplary illustrative embodiment,the data is transmitted and received in an electronic mail format, andtherefore, it is possible to make a communication between a gameapparatus and other versatile terminals.

A thirty-sixth exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game apparatusaccording to the thirty-third, and further comprises a filtering meansfor, in a case that data except for the registered destination isreceived, deleting the data.

In the thirty-sixth exemplary illustrative embodiment, a filteringmeans, in a case that data except for the registered destination isreceived, deletes the data. For example, an undesirable mail like a spamis deleted.

In accordance with the thirty-sixth exemplary illustrative embodiment,it is possible to set so as not to receive data from an unregistereddestination.

A thirty-seventh exemplary illustrative embodiment is a storage mediumstoring a game program of a game apparatus having a communication meansfor transmitting and receiving data via a network with other apparatus,and a storing means having a transmission data memory area for storingtransmission data to be transmitted and a reception data memory area forstoring received reception data, and allowing execution of anapplication by means of data via the network, the game program makes acomputer of the game apparatus function as an application processingmeans for being capable of executing a desired application, and beingaccessible to the transmission data memory area and the reception datamemory area, and a transmission-reception managing means for performingprocessing of controlling the communication means to communicate with anetwork, and transmitting the transmission data stored in thetransmission data memory area to the network, and storing in thereception data memory area reception data capable of identifying atargeted application received from the network. The applicationprocessing means, by executing the application, performs a transmissiondata storing process for generating transmission data to be transmittedto other apparatus, and making the data identifiable as data for theapplication and storing it in the transmission data memory area, areception data acquiring process for, in a case that the reception datafor the application exists in the reception data memory area, acquiringthe reception data for the application to execute processing utilizingthe reception data, so that utilization of data via the network isperformed.

In the thirty-seventh exemplary illustrative embodiment also, similarlyto the first exemplary illustrative embodiment, it is possible toprovide a communication method in high general versatility with lesscost and user's work.

A thirty-eighth exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game program of agame apparatus transmitting and receiving data with other apparatus viaa network and utilizing the transmitted and received data, and the gameprogram causes a computer of the game apparatus to function as acommunication portion, a transmission-reception managing means, a replydata storing means, a reception data storing means, a game processingmeans, a reception data determining means, and an automatically replyingmeans. The communication portion transmits and receives data. Thetransmission-reception managing means causes the communication portionto transmit and receive data. The reply data storing means storespredetermined reply data for an auto-reply. The reception data storingmeans stores received reception data. The game processing means executesa game program designated by a user to perform game processing by meansof the reception data. The reception data determining means, in a casethat the transmission-reception managing means transmits and receivesdata and receives the data, stores the received reception data in thereception data storing means, and determines whether or not replyrequest information for indicating a request of a reply is included inthe reception data. The automatically replying means automatically readsthe reply data from the reply data storing means, and transmits it viathe communication portion in a case that the reception data stored inthe reception data storing means includes the reply request information.

In the thirty-eighth exemplary illustrative embodiment also, similarlyto the twentieth exemplary illustrative embodiment, a reply to thereceived data can be automatically performed, and therefore, even whenan online game is not played, it is possible to transmit and receivedata with other game machine.

A thirty-ninth exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game program of agame apparatus provided with a communication portion for transmittingand receiving data with a network and a storing portion having adownload data memory area for storing received download data and beingcapable of executing an application by means of the data downloaded viathe network. The game program makes a computer of the game apparatus tofunction as an application processing means for executing an arbitraryapplication designated by a user, a task storing means for storingcommunication schedule data including at least download destinationinformation for each application, and a download managing means forexecuting processing of reading communication schedule data from thetask storing means, causing the communication portion to communicatewith the network on the basis of the communication schedule to downloadpredetermined data, and storing in the download data memory areadownload data identifiable with the targeted application downloaded fromthe network for each targeted application. The application processingmeans, in a case that the download data for the application exists inthe download data memory area, executes processing including a downloaddata acquiring process for reading the download data for the applicationto thereby perform utilization of data via the network.

In the thirty-ninth exemplary illustrative embodiment also, similarly tothe twenty-fifth exemplary illustrative embodiment, it is possible todownload data except during execution of the application, and therefore,the user does not have to continuously instruct download duringexecution of the application.

A fortieth exemplary illustrative embodiment is a game program of a gameapparatus transmitting and receiving data via a network with otherapparatus, and executing an application by means of data transmitted andreceived with an apparatus registered in advance as a destination withwhich a communication is allowable. The game program makes a computer ofthe game apparatus function as a communication portion for transmittingand receiving data, a destination storing means for storing destinationdata indicative of a destination, a destination input means for addingdestination data indicative of a predetermined destination to thedestination storing means, a first notifying means for, in a case thatdestination data is added by the destination input means, automaticallygenerating predetermined data to an apparatus indicated by the addeddestination and causing the communication portion to transmit it via thenetwork, and a registering means for, in a case that predetermined datais received from the apparatus indicative of the added destination aftercompletion of transmitting and receiving the data by the first notifyingmeans, registering the destination data as a communication allowabledestination.

In the fortieth exemplary illustrative embodiment also, similarly to thethirty-third exemplary illustrative embodiment, it is possible toregister a destination for transmitting and receiving communication dataonly with a desired user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an illustrative view of a game system in accordance with oneembodiment of the present exemplary illustrative embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electric configuration of the gamesystem in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an illustrative view showing an appearance of a controllershown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an electric configuration of thecontroller shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an illustrative view showing an outline of a state when a gameis played by means of the controller shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an illustrative view for explaining viewing angles of twomarkers and a controller shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is an illustrative view showing one example of an imaged imageincluding an object image;

FIG. 8 is an illustrative view showing one example of a communicationsystem in accordance with the present exemplary illustrative embodiment;

FIG. 9 is one example of a screen to be displayed by a message boardfunction in accordance with the present exemplary illustrativeembodiment;

FIG. 10 is an illustrative view showing header information of a messagetransmitted and received between game apparatuses;

FIG. 11 is an illustrative view schematically showing data stored in aflash memory integrated in the game apparatus;

FIG. 12 shows a content of a task list;

FIG. 13 is an illustrative view showing flows of a friend registrationbetween game apparatuses;

FIG. 14 is an illustrative view showing flows of a friend registrationbetween a game apparatus and other terminal;

FIG. 15 is an illustrative view illustrating a scheduling and anexecuting hour of the tasks;

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a game application process of a CPU shownin FIG. 2;

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing a transmission data creating processbeing a part of the game application process of the CPU shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing a reception data acquiring process beinga part of the game application process of the CPU shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing a download data acquiring process being apart of the game application process of the CPU shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing a message board function being one of theapplications of the CPU shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing a message board display process being apart of the message board function of the CPU shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 22 is a flowchart showing a message input process being a part ofthe message board function of the CPU shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 23 is a flowchart showing a message transmitting and receivingprocess of an input-output processor shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 24 is a flowchart showing a filtering process being a part of themessage transmitting and receiving process of the input-output processorshown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 25 is a flowchart showing overwrite confirming process being a partof the message transmitting and receiving process of the input-outputprocessor shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 26 is a flowchart showing a download process of the input-outputprocessor shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 27 is a flowchart showing a part of the message transmitting andreceiving process in another embodiment of the present exemplaryillustrative embodiment; and

FIG. 28 is a flowchart showing another part of the message transmittingand receiving process in another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIG. 1, a game system 10 being one embodiment of thepresent exemplary illustrative embodiment includes a game apparatus(hereinafter referred to as “game apparatus”) 12 and a controller 22.Additionally, in this embodiment, the game apparatus 12 is designed soas to be communicably connectable with a maximum of four controllers 22.Also, the game apparatus 12 and each of the controllers 22 are connectedby radio. For example, wireless communication is executed according toBluetooth® standard, and may be executed by other standards, such asinfrared rays and wireless LAN.

The game apparatus 12 includes a roughly rectangular parallelepipedhousing 14, and the housing 14 is provided with a disk slot 16 on afront surface. An optical disk 18 as one example of an informationstorage medium storing game program, etc. is inserted into the disk slot16 to be loaded in a disk drive 54 (see FIG. 2) within the housing 14.Around the disk slot 16, an LED and a light guide plate are arranged soas to be turned on in response to various processing.

Furthermore, on a front surface of the housing 14 of the game apparatus12, a power button 20 a and a reset button 20 b are provided at theupper part thereof, and an eject button 20 c is provided below them. Inaddition, a connector cover for external memory card 28 is providedbetween the reset button 20 b and the eject button 20 c, and in thevicinity of the disk slot 16. Inside the connector cover for externalmemory card 28, an external connector for memory card 62 (see FIG. 2) isprovided, through which an external memory card (hereinafter simplyreferred to as a “memory card”) not shown is inserted. The memory cardis employed for loading the game program, etc. read from the opticaldisk 18 to temporarily store it, storing (saving) game data (result dataor proceeding data of the game) of the game played by means of the gamesystem 10, and so forth. It should be noted that storing the game datadescribed above may be performed on an internal memory, such as a flashmemory 44 (see FIG. 2) inside the game apparatus 12 in place of thememory card. Also, the memory card may be utilized as a backup memory ofthe internal memory.

It should be noted that as a memory card, a general-purpose SD card canbe employed, but other general-purpose memory cards, such as memorysticks, multimedia cards® can be employed.

The game apparatus 12 has an AV cable connector 58 (FIG. 2) on the rearsurface of the housing 14, and by utilizing the AV cable connector 58, amonitor 34 and a speaker 34 a are connected to the game apparatus 12through an AV cable 32 a. The monitor 34 and the speaker 34 a typicallyare a color television receiver, and through the AV cable 32 a, a videosignal from the game apparatus 12 is input to a video input terminal ofthe color television, and a sound signal is input to a sound inputterminal. Accordingly, a game image of a three-dimensional (3D) videogame, for example, is displayed on the screen of the color television(monitor) 34, and stereo game sound, such as a game music, a soundeffect, etc. is output from right and left speakers 34 a. Around themonitor 34 (on the top side of the monitor 34, in this embodiment), amarker unit 34 b including two infrared ray LEDs (markers) 34 m and 34 nis provided. The marker unit 34 b is connected to the game apparatus 12through a power source cable 32 b. Accordingly, the marker unit 34 b issupplied with power from the game apparatus 12. Thus, the markers 34 mand 34 n emit lights in front of the monitor 34.

Furthermore, the power of the game apparatus 12 is applied by means of ageneral AC adapter (not illustrated). The AC adapter is inserted into astandard wall socket for home use, and the game apparatus 12 transformsthe house current (commercial power supply) to a low DC voltage signalsuitable for driving. In another embodiment, a battery may be utilizedas a power supply.

In the game system 10, a user or a player turns the power of the gameapparatus 12 on for playing the game (or applications other than thegame). Then, the user selects an appropriate optical disk 18 storing aprogram of a video game (or other applications the player wants toplay), and loads the optical disk 18 into the disk drive 54 of the gameapparatus 12. In response thereto, the game apparatus 12 starts toexecute a video game or other applications on the basis of the programrecorded in the optical disk 18. The user operates the controller 22 inorder to apply an input to the game apparatus 12. For example, byoperating any one of the input means 26, a game or other application isstarted. Besides the operation with respect to the input means 26, bymoving the controller 22 itself, it is possible to move a moving imageobject (player object) in different directions or change the perspectiveof the user (camera position) in a 3-dimensional game world.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an electric configuration of the video gamesystem 10 in FIG. 1 embodiment. Although illustration is omitted, therespective components within the housing 14 are contained on a printedboard. As shown in FIG. 2, the game apparatus 12 has a CPU 40. The CPU40 functions as a game processor. The CPU 40 is connected to a systemLSI 42. The system LSI 42 is connected with an external main memory 46,a ROM/RTC 48, a disk drive 54, and an AV IC 56.

The external main memory 46 stores programs like a game program, etc.,stores various data, and is utilized as a work area and a buffer area ofthe CPU 40. The ROM/RTC 48, the so-called boot ROM, is incorporated witha program for activating the game apparatus 12, and provided with a timecircuit for counting a time. The disk drive 54 reads program data,texture data, etc. from the optical disk 18, and writes it in aninternal main memory 42 e described later or the external main memory 46under the control of the CPU 40.

The system LSI 42 is provided with an input-output processor 42 a, a GPU(Graphics Processor Unit) 42 b, a DSP (Digital Signal Processor) 42 c, aVRAM 42 d and an internal main memory 42 e, and these are connected witheach other by internal buses although illustration is omitted.

The input-output processor (I/O processor) 42 a executes transmissionand reception of data, downloads of data, and so forth. A detaileddescription is made later as to transmission and reception and downloadof the data.

The GPU 42 b is made up of a part of a rendering means, and receives agraphics command (construction command) from the CPU 40 to generate gameimage data according to the command. Additionally, the CPU 40 applies animage generating program required for generating game image data to theGPU 42 b in addition to the graphics command.

Although illustration is omitted, the GPU 42 b is connected with theVRAM 42 d as described above. The GPU 42 b accesses the VRAM 42 d toacquire the data (image data: data such as polygon data, texture data,etc.) required to execute the construction command. Additionally, theCPU 40 writes the image data required for drawing to the VRAM 42 d viathe GPU 42 b. The GPU 42 b accesses the VRAM 42 d to create game imagedata for drawing.

In this embodiment, a description is made on a case that the GPU 42 bgenerates game image data, but in a case of executing an arbitraryapplication except for the game application, the GPU 42 b generatesimage data as to the arbitrary application.

Furthermore, the DSP 42 c functions as an audio processor, and generatesaudio data corresponding to a sound, a voice, music, or the like bymeans of the sound data and the sound wave (tone) data stored in theinternal main memory 42 e and the external main memory 46.

The game image data and audio data generated as described above are readby the AV IC 56, and output to the monitor 34 and the speaker 34 a viathe AV connector 58. Accordingly, a game screen is displayed on themonitor 34, and a sound (music) necessary for the game is output fromthe speaker 34 a.

Furthermore, the input-output processor 42 a is connected with anexpansion connector 60 and a connector for memory card 62 as well as aflash memory 44, radio communication module 50 and a radio controllermodule 52. The radio communication module 50 is connected with anantenna 50 a, and the radio controller module 52 is connected with anantenna 52 a.

The input-output processor 42 a can communicate with other gameapparatuses and various servers to be connected to a network via a radiocommunication module 50. It should be noted that it is possible todirectly communicate with other game apparatus without going through thenetwork. The input-output processor 42 a periodically accesses the flashmemory 44 to detect the presence or absence of data (referred to astransmission data) being required to be transmitted to a network, and,in a case that the transmission data is present, transmits it to thenetwork via the radio communication module 50 and the antenna 50 a.Furthermore, the input-output processor 42 a receives data (referred toas reception data) transmitted from other game apparatuses via thenetwork, the antenna 50 a and the radio communication module 50, andstores the reception data in the flash memory 44. If the reception datadoes not satisfy a predetermined condition, the reception data isabandoned as it is. In addition, the input-output processor 42 areceives data (download data) downloaded from the download server viathe network, the antenna 50 a and the radio communication module 50, andstore the download data in the flash memory 44.

Furthermore, the input-output processor 42 a receives input datatransmitted from the controller 22 via the antenna 52 a and the radiocontroller module 52, and temporarily stores it in the buffer area ofthe internal main memory 42 e or the external main memory 46. The inputdata is erased from the buffer area after being utilized in the gameprocessing by the CPU 40.

In this embodiment, as described above, the radio controller module 52performs communication with the controller 22 in accordance withBluetooth standards.

In addition, the input-output processor 42 a is connected with theexpansion connector 60 and the connector for memory card 62. Theexpansion connector 60 is a connector for interfaces, such as USB, SCSI,etc., and can be connected with medium such as an external storage, andperipheral devices such as another controller. Furthermore, theexpansion connector 60 is connected with a cable LAN adaptor, and canutilize the cable LAN in place of the radio communication module 50. Theconnector for memory card 62 can be connected with an external storagelike a memory card. Thus, for example, the input-output processor 42 aaccesses the external storage via the expansion connector 60 and theconnector for memory card 62 to store and read the data.

Although a detailed description is omitted, as shown in FIG. 1, the gameapparatus 12 (housing 14) is furnished with the power button 20 a, thereset button 20 b, and the eject button 20 c. The power button 20 a isconnected to the system LSI 42. When the power button 20 a is turned on,the system LSI 42 set in a mode of a normal energized state in which therespective components of the game apparatus 12 are supplied with powerthrough an AC adapter not shown (referred to as “normal mode”). On theother hand, when the power button 20 a is turned off, the system LSI 42is set to a mode in which a part of the components of the game apparatus12 is supplied with power, and the power consumption is reduced tominimum (hereinafter referred to as “standby mode”). In this embodiment,in a case that the standby mode is set, the system LSI 42 issues aninstruction to stop supplying the power to the components except for theinput-output processor 42 a, the flash memory 44, the external mainmemory 46, the ROM/RTC 48 and the radio communication module 50, and theradio controller module 52. Accordingly, the standby mode is a mode inwhich execution of the application is not performed by the CPU 40.

Although the system LSI 42 is supplied with power even in the standbymode, generation of clocks to the GPU 42 b, the DSP42 c and the VRAM 42d are stopped so as not to be driven, realizing reduction in powerconsumption.

Although illustration is omitted, inside the housing 14 of the gameapparatus 12, a fan is provided for excluding heat of the IC, such asthe CPU 40, the system LSI 42, etc. to outside. In the standby mode, thefan is also stopped.

However, in a case that utilizing the standby mode is not desired, bymaking the standby mode unusable, when the power button 20 a is turnedoff, the power supply to all the circuit components are completelystopped.

Furthermore, switching between the normal mode and the standby mode canbe performed by turning on and off the power switch 26 of the controller22 by remote control. If the remote control is not performed, setting ismade such that the power supply to the radio controller module 52 a isnot performed in the standby mode.

The reset button 20 b is also connected with the system LSI 42. When thereset button 20 b is pushed, the system LSI 42 restarts the activationprogram of the game apparatus 12. The eject button 20 c is connected tothe disk drive 54. When the eject button 20 c is pushed, the opticaldisk 18 is removed from the disk drive 54.

Each of FIG. 3 (A) to FIG. 3 (E) shows one example of an externalappearance of the controller 22. FIG. 3 (A) shows a front end surface ofthe controller 22, FIG. 3 (B) shows a top surface of the controller 22,FIG. 3 (C) shows a right side surface of the controller 22, FIG. 3 (D)shows a lower surface of the controller 22, and FIG. 3 (E) shows a backend surface of the controller 22.

Referring to FIG. 3 (A) and FIG. 3 (E), the controller 22 has a housing22 a formed by plastic molding, for example. The housing 22 a is formedinto an approximately rectangular parallelepiped shape and has a sizesmall enough to be held by one hand of a user. The housing 22 a(controller 22) is provided with the input means (a plurality of buttonsor switches) 26. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3 (B), on an upper faceof the housing 22 a, there are provided a cross key 26 a, a 1 button 26b, a 2 button 26 c, an A button 26 d, a − button 26 e, a HOME button 26f, a + button 26 g and a power switch 26 h. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 3(C) and FIG. 3 (D), an inclined surface is formed on a lower surface ofthe housing 22 a, and a B-trigger switch 26 i is formed on the inclinedsurface.

The cross key 26 a is a four directional push switch, including fourdirections of front (or upper), back (or lower), right and leftoperation parts. By operating any one of the operation parts, it ispossible to instruct a moving direction of a character or object (playercharacter or player object) that is be operable by a player or instructthe moving direction of a cursor.

The 1 button 26 b and the 2 button 26 c are respectively push buttonswitches, and are used for adjusting a viewpoint position and aviewpoint direction on displaying the 3D game image, i.e. a position andan image angle of a virtual camera. Alternatively, the 1 button 26 b andthe 2 button 26 c can be used for the same operation as that of theA-button 26 d and the B-trigger switch 26 i or an auxiliary operation.

The A-button switch 26 d is the push button switch, and is used forcausing the player character or the player object to take an actionother than that instructed by a directional instruction, specificallyarbitrary actions such as hitting (punching), throwing, grasping(acquiring), riding, and jumping, etc. For example, in an action game,it is possible to give an instruction to jump, punch, move a weapon, andso forth. Also, in a roll playing game (RPG) and a simulation RPG, it ispossible to instruct to acquire an item, select and determine the weaponand command, and so forth.

The − button 26 e, the HOME button 26 f, the + button 26 g, and thepower supply switch 26 h are also push button switches. The − button 26e is used for selecting a game mode. The HOME button 26 f is used fordisplaying a game menu (menu screen). The + button 26 g is used forstarting (re-starting) or pausing the game. The power supply switch 26 his used for turning on/off a power supply of the game apparatus 12 byremote control.

In this embodiment, note that the power supply switch for turning on/offthe controller 22 itself is not provided, and the controller 22 is setat on-state by operating any one of the switches or buttons of the inputmeans 26 of the controller 22, and when not operated for a certainperiod of time (30 seconds, for example) or more, the controller 22 isautomatically set at off-state.

The B-trigger switch 26 i is also the push button switch, and is mainlyused for inputting a trigger such as shooting and designating a positionselected by the controller 22. In a case that the B-trigger switch 26 iis continued to be pushed, it is possible to make movements andparameters of the player object constant. In a fixed case, the B-triggerswitch 26 i functions in the same way as a normal B-button, and is usedfor canceling the action determined by the A-button 26 d.

As shown in FIG. 3 (E), an external expansion connector 22 b is providedon a back end surface of the housing 22 a, and as shown in FIG. 3 (B),and an indicator 22 c is provided on the top surface and the side of theback end surface of the housing 22 a. The external expansion connector22 b is utilized for connecting another expansion controller not shown.The indicator 22 c is made up of four LEDs, for example, and showsidentification information (controller number) of the lightingcontroller 22 by lighting any one of the four LEDs, and shows theremaining amount of power of the controller 22 depending on the numberof LEDs to be emitted.

In addition, the controller 22 has an imaged information arithmeticsection 80 (see FIG. 4), and as shown in FIG. 3 (A), on the front endsurface of the housing 22 a, light incident opening 22 d of the imagedinformation arithmetic section 80 is provided. Furthermore, thecontroller 22 has a speaker 86 (see FIG. 4), and the speaker 86 isprovided inside the housing 22 a at the position corresponding to asound release hole 22 e between the 1 button 26 b and the HOME button 26f on the tope surface of the housing 22 a as shown in FIG. 3 (B).

Note that as shown in FIG. 3 (A) to FIG. 3 (E), the shape of thecontroller 22 and the shape, number and setting position of each inputmeans 26 are simply examples, and needless to say, even if they aresuitably modified, the present exemplary illustrative embodiment can berealized.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an electric configuration of thecontroller 22. Referring to FIG. 4, the controller 22 includes aprocessor 70, and the processor 70 is connected with the externalexpansion connector 22 b, the input means 26, a memory 72, anacceleration sensor 74, a radio module 76, the imaged informationarithmetic section 80, an LED 82 (the indicator 22 c), an vibrator 84, aspeaker 86, and a power supply circuit 88 by an internal bus (notshown). Moreover, an antenna 78 is connected to the radio module 76.

The processor 70 is in charge of an overall control of the controller22, and transmits (inputs) information (input information) inputted bythe input means 26, the acceleration sensor 74, and the imagedinformation arithmetic section 80 as input data, to the game apparatus12 via the radio module 76 and the antenna 78. At this time, theprocessor 70 uses the memory 72 as a working area or a buffer area.

An operation signal (operation data) from the aforementioned input means26 (26 a to 26 i) is inputted to the processor 70, and the processor 70stores the operation data once in the memory 72.

Moreover, the acceleration sensor 74 detects each acceleration of thecontroller 22 in directions of three axes of vertical direction (y-axialdirection), lateral direction (x-axial direction), and forward andrearward directions (z-axial direction). The acceleration sensor 74 istypically an acceleration sensor of an electrostatic capacity type, butthe acceleration sensor of other type may also be used.

For example, the acceleration sensor 74 detects the accelerations (ax,ay, az) in each direction of x-axis, y-axis, z-axis for each firstpredetermined time, and inputs the data of the acceleration(acceleration data) thus detected in the processor 70. For example, theacceleration sensor 74 detects the acceleration in each direction of theaxes in a range from −2.0 g to 2.0 g (g indicates a gravitationalacceleration. The same thing can be said hereafter.) The processor 70detects the acceleration data given from the acceleration sensor 74 foreach second predetermined time, and stores it in the memory 72 once. Theprocessor 70 creates input data including at least one of the operationdata, acceleration data and marker coordinate data as described later,and transmits the input data thus created to the game apparatus 12 foreach third predetermined time (5 msec, for example).

In this embodiment, although omitted in FIG. 3 (A) to FIG. 3 (E), theacceleration sensor 74 is provided inside the housing 22 a and in thevicinity on the circuit board where the cross key 26 a is arranged.

The radio module 76 modulates a carrier of a predetermined frequency bythe input data, by using a technique of Bluetooth, for example, andemits its weak radio wave signal from the antenna 78. Namely, the inputdata is modulated to the weak radio wave signal by the radio module 76and transmitted from the antenna 78 (controller 22). The weak radio wavesignal thus transmitted is received by the radio controller module 52provided to the aforementioned game apparatus 12. The weak radio wavethus received is subjected to demodulating and decoding processing. Thismakes it possible for the game apparatus 12 (CPU 40) to acquire theinput data from the controller 22. Then, the CPU 40 performs gameprocessing, following the input data and the program (game program).

In addition, as described above, the controller 22 is provided with theimaged information arithmetic section 80. The imaged informationarithmetic section 80 is made up of an infrared rays filter 80 a, a lens80 b, an imager 80 c, and an image processing circuit 80 d. The infraredrays filter 80 a passes only infrared rays from the light incident fromthe front of the controller 22. As described above, the markers 340 mand 340 n placed near (around) the display screen of the monitor 34 areinfrared LEDs for outputting infrared lights forward the monitor 34.Accordingly, by providing the infrared rays filter 80 a, it is possibleto image the image of the markers 340 m and 340 n more accurately. Thelens 80 b condenses the infrared rays passing thorough the infrared raysfilter 82 to emit them to the imager 80 c. The imager 80 c is a solidimager, such as a CMOS sensor and a CCD, for example, and images theinfrared rays condensed by the lens 80 b. Accordingly, the imager 80 cimages only the infrared rays passing through the infrared rays filter80 a to generate image data. Hereafter, the image imaged by the imager80 c is called an “imaged image”. The image data generated by the imager80 c is processed by the image processing circuit 80 d. The imageprocessing circuit 80 d calculates a position of an object to be imaged(markers 340 m and 340 n) within the imaged image, and outputs eachcoordinate value indicative of the position to the processor 70 asimaged data for each fourth predetermined time. It should be noted thata description of the process in the image processing circuit 80 d ismade later.

FIG. 5 is an illustrative view summarizing a state when a player plays agame by utilizing a controller 22. As shown in FIG. 5, when playing thegame by means of the controller 22 in the video game system 10, theplayer holds the controller 22 with one hand. Strictly speaking, theplayer holds the controller 22 in a state that the front end surface(the side of the incident light opening 22 d of the light imaged by theimaged information arithmetic section 80) of the controller 22 isoriented to the markers 340 m and 340 n. It should be noted that as canbe understood from FIG. 1, the markers 340 m and 340 n are placed inparallel with the horizontal direction of the screen of the monitor 34.In this state, the player performs a game operation by changing aposition on the screen indicated by the controller 22, and changing adistance between the controller 22 and each of the markers 340 m and 340n.

FIG. 6 is a view showing viewing angles between the respective markers340 m and 340 n, and the controller 22. As shown in FIG. 6, each of themarkers 340 m and 340 n emits infrared ray within a range of a viewingangle θ1. Also, the imager 80 c of the imaged information arithmeticsection 80 can receive incident light within the range of the viewingangle θ2 taking the line of sight of the controller 22 as a center. Forexample, the viewing angle θ1 of each of the markers 340 m and 340 n is34° (half-value angle) while the viewing angle θ2 of the imager 80 c is41°. The player holds the controller 22 such that the imager 80 c isdirected and positioned so as to receive the infrared rays from themarkers 340 m and 340 n. More specifically, the player holds thecontroller 22 such that at least one of the markers 340 m and 340 nexists in the viewing angle θ2 of the imager 80 c, and the controller 22exists in at least one of the viewing angles θ1 of the marker 340 m or340 n. In this state, the controller 22 can detect at least one of themarkers 340 m and 340 n. The player can perform a game operation bychanging the position and the orientation of the controller 22 in therange satisfying the state.

If the position and the orientation of the controller 22 are out of therange, the game operation based on the position and the orientation ofthe controller 22 cannot be performed. Hereafter, the above-describedrange is called an “operable range.”

If the controller 22 is held within the operable range, an image of eachof the markers 340 m and 340 n is imaged by the imaged informationarithmetic section 80. That is, the imaged image obtained by the imager80 c includes an image (object image) of each of the markers 340 m and340 n as an object to be imaged. FIG. 7 is a view showing one example ofthe imaged image including an object image. The image processing circuit80 d calculates coordinates (marker coordinates) indicative of theposition of each of the markers 340 m and 340 n in the imaged image byutilizing the image data of the imaged image including the object image.

Since the object image appears as a high-intensity part in the imagedata of the imaged image, the image processing circuit 80 d firstdetects the high-intensity part as a candidate of the object image.Next, the image processing circuit 80 d determines whether or not thehigh-intensity part is an object image on the basis of the size of thedetected high-intensity part. The imaged image may include images otherthan the object image due to sunlight through a window and light of afluorescent lamp in the room as well as the images 340 m′ and 340 n′ ofthe two markers 340 m and 340 n as an object image. The determinationprocessing whether or not the high-intensity part is an object image isexecuted for discriminating the images 340 m′ and 340 n′ of the twomarkers 340 m and 340 n as an object image from the images other thanthem, and accurately detecting the object image. More specifically, inthe determination process, it is determined whether or not the detectedhigh-intensity part is within the size of the preset predeterminedrange. Then, if the high-intensity part is within the size of thepredetermined range, it is determined that the high-intensity partrepresents the object image. On the contrary, if the high-intensity partis not within the size of the predetermined range, it is determined thatthe high-intensity part represents the images other than the objectimage.

In addition, as to the high-intensity part which is determined torepresent the object image as a result of the above-describeddetermination processing, the image processing circuit 80 d calculatesthe position of the high-intensity part. More specifically, thebarycenter position of the high-intensity part is calculated. Here, thecoordinates of the barycenter position is called a “marker coordinate”.Also, the barycenter position can be calculated with more detailed scalethan the resolution of the imager 80 c. Now, the resolution of theimaged image imaged by the imager 80 c shall be 126×96, and thebarycenter position shall be calculated with the scale of 1024×768. Thatis, the marker coordinate is represented by the integer from (0, 0) to(1024, 768).

Additionally, the position in the imaged image shall be represented by acoordinate system (XY coordinate system) taking the upper left of theimaged image as an origin point, the downward direction as an Y-axispositive direction, and the right direction as an X-axis positivedirection.

Also, if the object image is properly detected, two high-intensity partsare determined as an object image by the determination process, andtherefore, two marker coordinates are calculated. The image processingcircuit 80 d outputs data indicative of the calculated two markercoordinates. The data (marker coordinate data) of the output markercoordinates is included in the input data by the processor 70 asdescribed above, and transmitted to the game apparatus 12.

The game apparatus 12 (CPU 40) detects the marker coordinate data fromthe received input data to thereby calculate an instructed position(instructed coordinate) by the controller 22 on the screen of themonitor 34 and a distances from the controller 22 to each of the markers340 m and 340 n on the basis of the marker coordinate data. Morespecifically, from the position of the mid point of the two markercoordinates, a position to which the controller 22 faces, that is, aninstructed position is calculated. The distance between the objectimages in the imaged image is changed depending on the distance betweenthe controller 22 and each of the markers 340 m and 340 n, andtherefore, the game apparatus 12 can grasp the distance between thecontroller 22 and each of the markers 340 m and 340 n by calculating thedistance between the two marker coordinates.

An outline of transmitting and receiving messages in accordance with oneembodiment is explained below. FIG. 8 is an illustrative view showingone example of a communication system 100 utilizing the above-describedgame apparatus 12. As shown in FIG. 8, the communication system 100includes a plurality of game apparatuses 12, and each of the gameapparatuses 12 is connected to a mail server 102 and a delivery server104 via a network 106 like the Internet and a LAN. By being connected tosuch the network 106, it becomes possible to perform transmitting andreceiving of messages via the mail server 102 and download of data fromthe delivery server 104.

It should be noted that although a description is made on a case that aplurality of game apparatuses 12 are connected to the network 106 inthis embodiment, one game apparatus 12 is appropriate. Furthermore, aplurality of delivery servers 104 may be provided depending on the kindof the download data (content). In addition, the network 106 is alsoconnected with a PC, and a cellular phone via a cellular phone network.Other various electronic appliances can be connected to the network 106to perform transmitting and receiving of messages with the gameapparatus 12 via the mail server 102.

The game apparatuses 12 are capable of communicating with each other viathe network 106. A message input by a player and a message generated bya game apparatus 12 are transformed into an electronic mail format so asto be transmitted and received (exchanged) between the game apparatuses12 via the network 106 and the mail server 102. Thus, as a mail server102, it is possible to use versatile mail servers. Also, the gameapparatus 12 can transmit and receive messages, i.e., electronic mailswith terminals (terminal except for other game apparatuses 12), such asa PC, a cellular phone. Such message transmitting and receiving processin the game apparatus 12 is automatically executed according to apredetermined schedule without the user issuing a transmitting andreceiving instruction, and therefore, the user can play a game or otherapplications with a message held without periodically checking the mailby itself. Furthermore, the game apparatus 12 can perform transmittingand receiving of messages only with a game apparatus 12 or a terminalexcept for other game apparatus 12 (hereinafter, referred to as “otherterminal”) whose destination is registered in the address book (friendlist 44 d described later), which prevents the user from receivingunnecessary messages like a spam even by utilizing versatile mailsystems.

The game apparatus 12 can execute a message board function being anapplication for displaying the received message on the monitor 34. Themessage specific to the other application (game, etc.) and the data tobe utilized by only the application are made readable in only theapplication. Thus, in a case that a message has to be transmitted toonly the specific user, if data dependent on an individual applicationis included in the message and transmitted, it can be made in a formatunreadable by the message board function. However, irrespective of thekind of the application, a referable message is displayed by the messageboard function on the monitor 34 so as to be referred (read) by anyone.

The message board function is an application having a function todisplay a received message on the monitor 34, and displays a messageacquired from the network 106. Additionally, a message created for theuser himself as well as the message received from other game apparatuses12 and other terminals can similarly be displayed. Therefore, in a casethat the game apparatus 12 is not connected to the network 106, themessage board function can be used as a message board for home use and apersonal note pad, and a record created by an application like a game,etc. can be browsed by the message board function afterward. At thistime, if the message created in the game apparatus 12 is stored in aformat similar to that of the message acquired from the network 106(electronic mail format in the embodiment) in the same area, there is noneed to separately prepare processing for display. For example, at atime of creating notes or messages, data is converted into data in anelectronic mail format, or in the game program processing, data in anelectronic mail format may be created.

FIG. 9 shows one example of a state in which messages are displayed onthe monitor 34 by a message board function. In FIG. 9 example, themessage board function displays in a menu the messages received at thatday. For example, a message acquired from the network, a message from afamily, a history during the game play, etc. can be displayed. A buttonfor activating programs to create a note, a message, and a message to betransmitted to the network is displayed. The data of the message ismanaged for each date, and by designating another date, the screen isswitched to another screen to similarly display in a menu messagesreceived on the designated date. The content of the message (main body,etc.) may be viewable from the first, or only the current time and thetitle are displayed on the menu display to allow the user to look at thecontent by opening the message.

Furthermore, although a detailed description is omitted, data (imagedata) of the image (still image in this embodiment) drawn by a gameapplication and an application for drawing the image and image data heldby other terminal can be attached to the message (electronic mail). Theimage data is displayed on the monitor 34 with the message by themessage board function. For example, the image data held by the otherterminal is data of an image (still image) imaged by a digital cameraand a camera of a cellular phone or data of its thumbnail image.

In addition, although a detailed description is omitted, data dependenton the application such as game data can be attached to the message(electronic mail).

A description is made on information included in the message below. Inthis embodiment, header information shown in FIG. 10 is added to themessage. More specifically, the header information includes informationof a transmission source, a destination, a subject, a date and time,identification information of an application of the transmission side, amessage board display ON/OFF attribute, a message board date and timedesignation, an overwrite tag, an other application restriction, adisappearance attribute, a reception notification attribute, analternate nickname, and a reply attribute.

The information of the transmission source is identification information(or e-mail address) of the game apparatus 12 and an e-mail address ofother terminal as the transmission source (transmission side) of themessage. Here, the identification information of the game apparatus 12is information for individually identifying the game apparatus 12, and acharacter string utilizing at least any one of numeric and alphabeticcharacters, for example. As an e-mail address of the game apparatus 12,an e-mail address employing the character string of the identificationinformation of the game apparatus 12 is set. The e-mail address of thegame apparatus 12 is uniquely determined from the identificationinformation, and thus may be managed by any information. The informationof the destination is a destination of the message, that is, theidentification information of the game apparatus 12 (e-mail address) orother terminal of the receiving side (transmission source). The subjectis a title of the message.

The information of a date and time is a date (year/month/day) and time(hour/minute/second) when the message is transmitted (or created). Theidentification information on the transmission side (application ID) isan identification number or an identification symbol for identifying anapplication. In this embodiment, identification information of anapplication creating the message is described. The above-describedmessage board function is one of the applications, and includesidentification information representing a message board in the messagecreated on the message board.

The reception notification attribute is information for showing whetheror not receiving the message is notified to a user, and indicates valuesof “absent” and “pattern ID”, for example. If the reception notificationattribute indicates “absent”, a notifying process is not executed on thereceiving side even when the message is received. However, if thereception notification attribute indicates “pattern ID”, the receivingthe message is notified by flashing (blinking) the LED at an insertionport of the disk slot 16 according to the pattern by the pattern ID. Or,a sound (music) according to a pattern may be played.

The information of a message board display ON/OFF attribute isinformation for identifying whether the message is to be displayed onthe message board. In this embodiment, the message board display ON/OFFattribute is identified as three kinds like “ON”, “designated time”,“OFF”. When the attribute indicates “ON”, the message is displayed onthe message board. In such a case, the message is displayed (posted) onthe message board, and the above-described reception notifying may beperformed. Although illustration is omitted, by blinking the LED at theinsertion port of the disk slot 16 of the game apparatus 12, outputtinga sound (music), and so forth, it is possible to notify the display ofthe message. Alternatively, if the attribute indicates “designatedtime”, the message is not displayed on the message board before adesignated time from an arriving (receiving) of the message.Accordingly, for example, in a case that an event in the game is desiredto be notified, or in a case that the game apparatus 12 is desired to beactivated on date and time, a message describing “designated time” istransmitted. In addition, in a case that the attribute indicates “OFF”,the message is not displayed on the message board.

The information of the message board date and time designation isinformation for indicating whether or not a year, month, and day and atime for displaying the message on the message board are designated. Asthe information, if a year, month, and day and a time are designated,the message is displayed on the message board at the date and time.However, if a year, month, and day, and a time is not designated as theinformation, the message is displayed on the received date.

The overwrite tag is information relating to whether or not anoverwriting is performed by the received message. In this embodiment,the overwrite tag includes “ON” or “OFF”, and “overwrite ID”. When theoverwrite tag as to the message (for convenience of explanation,referred to as “current message”) indicates “ON”, it is determinedwhether or not a message (for convenience of explanation, referred to as“previous message”) whose transmission source, application ID, andoverwrite ID are the same is present in a reception message box 44 bthrough comparison. Then, if all of the information of the transmissionsource, the application ID and the overwrite ID are the same, theprevious message is overwritten with the current message. That is, in acase that the latest message from the same transmitter in the sameapplication is required (record of the game score, etc.) on thereceiving side, if a message whose overwriting tag indicates “ON”, andhaving the same overwrite ID is created in the game apparatus 12 on thetransmitting side when the application creates a message, overwriting isconstantly made with the latest message on the receiving side. Thismakes it possible to prevent the capacity of the flash memory 44 frombeing constrained by a useless message. However, if any one of thetransmission source, the application ID, and the overwrite ID isdifferent, this means that the message is a message for other purposes,and therefore, the message is not overwrite with the current message. Ina case that the overwrite tag ID of the current message indicates “OFF”,the message is never overwritten with the current message.

The information of other application restriction is information forindicating whether or not the message is made to be referred from anapplication except for the application indicated by the application ID.If the information indicates an electronic mail (message) that can bereferred with other application (other application restriction is turnedoff), the message can be read from the other application. On the otherhand, in a case that the information indicates that the information is amessage which cannot be referred with the other application (otherapplication restriction is turned on), the message is inhibited frombeing read from the other application. It should be noted that if theother application restriction is turned on, the content of the messagecannot be referred from other application, but the message may bedisplayed on the message board.

It should be noted that electronic mail from other terminal is not amessage generated by the application of the game apparatus 12, and thuscannot include the information of the other application restriction, andtherefore, the electronic mail (message) is automatically allowed to bereferred from all the applications.

The disappearance attribute is information indicating whether or not amessage is to be automatically erased on the receiving side. When thedisappearance attribute indicates “not erase”, the message is notautomatically erased on the receiving side. However, in a case that thedisappearance attribute indicates “designated time”, the message afterit is past the designated time from arrival (reception) of the messageis automatically erased on the receiving side. That is, in a case thatit is past the designated time without the received message beingutilized in an application, such as a message board function, etc., themessage is erased, and therefore, it is possible to prevent the messageincluding information which is senseless after the time expires like anotice is uselessly stored from occupying the capacity of the flashmemory 44 due to being uselessly stored in it, and it is possible toprevent the useless information to the user after the time expires.

The alternate nickname is information for indicating whether or not anickname designated by the transmitting side is displayed in a case thatthe message is displayed. If the information is empty, a nicknameregistered in the address book is referred as the information of thetransmitter, and the nickname is displayed at a time of displaying themessage. Furthermore, if a character string is included in the alternatenickname, the character string of the alternate nickname is displayed inplace of the nickname registered in the address book at a time ofdisplaying the message. The character string included in the alternatenickname can be utilized for displaying a predetermined letter otherthan the name in the displayed position.

The reply attribute is information indicating whether or not a reply tothe message is possible. When users transmit and receive messages, areply is generally performed, but as to the message, etc. automaticallycreated from the application (a record of the result of the gameplaying, for example), some information should not be replied by theuser, and therefore, such a reply attribute is set. When the replyattribute is “possible”, it is possible to reply to the message. In sucha case, if the message is displayed by the message board function, whenthe user selects (instructs) to reply, a message input screen to bereplied (not illustrated) is displayed to allow creation of a replymessage. However, when the reply attribute is “impossible”, it isimpossible to reply to the message. In such a case, if the message isdisplayed by the message board function, for example, the user is notallowed to select (instruct) the reply, or a message showing that it isnot impossible to reply to the message is displayed.

However, the general electronic mails include header information likeCc, Bcc, Reply-To, Return, etc. other than the above-described headerinformation, but in this embodiment, the game apparatus 12 can neglectthe unutilized information out of the information included in the headerwith respect to transmission data and reception data.

FIG. 11 is an illustrative view diagrammatically showing a configurationof data stored in the flash memory 44 integrated in the game apparatus12. By utilizing FIG. 11, the outline of a message transmitting andreceiving process and a download process in this embodiment areexplained. The game apparatus 12 performs transmitting and receiving ofmessages with the mail server 102, and downloading data from thedelivery server 104. That is, the game apparatus 12 performs two kindsof the communication processing. The message transmitting and receivingprocess and the download process are executed by the input-outputprocessor 42 a. The flash memory 44 includes a transmission message box44 a, a reception message box 44 b, a management file 44 c, a friendlist 44 d, a task list 44 e, a save area 44 f, a database 44 g, and amain-body application area 44 h as a memory area.

The transmission message box 44 a is an area for storing a message in anelectronic mail format (regarding as transmission data) to other gameapparatus 12 and other terminal from the game apparatus 12. Asunderstood from FIG. 11, the transmission data is transmitted to themail server 102. Accordingly, the game apparatus 12 can transmit amessage to other game apparatus 12 via the mail server 102 and thenetwork 106. The input-output processor 42 a refers to the transmissionmessage box 44 a on the basis of a predetermined schedule (every tenminutes, for example), and transmits, if transmission data is stored,the stored transmission data to the network 106. When the transmissiondata is transmitted to the network 106, the transmission data is deletedfrom the transmission message box 44 a.

Thus, since the transmission of the electronic mail is performedindependent of an application by the input-output processor 42 a, in theapplication executed by the CPU 40, such as the message board function,the game, etc., by merely performing processing of creating a messageand then recording the message in an electronic mail format in thetransmission message box 44 a, it is possible to transmit the message tothe network.

It should be noted that in this embodiment, more versatile data in anelectronic mail format is transmitted and received with a mail server,but the data is not limited to the electronic mail format, and can bediverted for various formats. Especially, in a case that communicationis limited to the communication between the game apparatuses 12, thereis no need to be a versatile format. Even in a case of beingcommunicated with other terminal, a versatile format executable in theterminal would be adopted. Furthermore, the kind of the server may be akind of server except for the mail server may be provided only that ithas a feature of holding data from a terminal until being accessed.

Furthermore, in a case that a transmission function is stopped for somereason, or in a case that a communication failure occurs, transmittingthe transmission data is not performed, and an excess volume of data inthe transmission message box 44 a may occur. In such a case, registeringthe transmission message in the transmission message box 44 a is notaccepted.

The reception message box 44 b is an area for storing a message in anelectronic mail format (may be referred to as a “reception data” incontrast to the “transmission data” in this embodiment) received fromother game apparatus 12, other terminal, and the delivery server 104. Asunderstood from FIG. 11, the reception data is transmitted from the mailserver 102 and the delivery server 104. The input-output processor 42 aaccesses the mail server 102 on the basis of a predetermined schedule(for every ten minutes, for example) to confirm whether or not a newarriving e-mail is present in the server, and if the new arriving e-mailis present, the new arriving e-mail is received so as to be stored inthe reception message box 44 b as reception data. In the receptionmessage box 44 b, the reception data is held until it is opened(utilized) and deleted by an application, or the reception message box44 b is full. It should be noted that when the reception message box 44b becomes full, every time that new reception data is received, thereception data is deleted from the oldest one. In a case that the gameapparatus 12 is in a normal mode, the reception data held in thereception message box 44 b is moved to a database 44 g according to theheader information except for one attached with the data depending on anapplication, such as game data, and is readable by the message boardfunction.

It should be noted that the reception data from the mail server 102 is amessage from other game apparatus 12 and other terminal. The receptiondata from the delivery server 104 is a message like a notice to aplurality of users from an administrator, etc. of the delivery server104. For example, from the administrator, etc. of the delivery server104, a message, such as information of the latest game application (gamesoftware) and information of an event in the game are transmitted(notified). A detailed description of storing data received from thedelivery server 104 in the reception message box 44 b is made later.

The management file 44 c is management information on the game apparatus12, and stores information specific to the game apparatus 12, such asthe identification information of the game apparatus 12, a profile ofthe user, etc. so as to be read as necessary. The friend list 44 dcorresponds to the so-called address book of the electronic mail towhich identification information of the registered other game apparatus12 (or e-mail address) and an e-mail address of other terminal aredescribed. The friend list 44 d can be referred from variousapplications are executed as well as in a case that message boardfunction is executed. It should be noted that out of identificationinformation of other game apparatuses 12 and e-mail address of otherterminals described in the friend list 44 d, electronic mail (receptiondata) except for one that transmitted from the game apparatus 12 withthe identification information and other terminal with the e-mailaddress which is subjected to a friend registration described later isdeleted. That is, if the transmission source is unidentified, thereception data is filtered. This makes it possible to automaticallydelete an undesired electronic mail like a spam.

The task list 44 e is a list of tasks representing a schedule fordownloading data from the delivery server 104, and stores a taskregistered in advance for the game apparatus 12 and a task arbitrarilyregistered by the user. Each of the tasks is executed to allow executionof the download process. It should be noted that in this embodiment onetask can be registered in one application. FIG. 12 shows one example ofattribute information included in each task. One task includesidentification information of a task (task ID), identificationinformation of an application (application ID), an URL of a deliverysource, the remaining number of times of downloading, a task activatinginterval, a retry margin, a content updating interval, and a file name.

The task ID is an ID for uniquely identifying a task. The application IDis an ID for uniquely identifying an application in which a task isregistered. The application ID is determined in correspondence with theapplication which performs a task registering process.

The URL of the delivery source indicates the place of the deliverysource (delivery server 104), and includes a file name of the downloaddata. The URL of the delivery source is set by the user, andautomatically set by the application.

The remaining number of times of downloading indicates a downloadexecutable count. In this embodiment, when the game apparatus 12(input-output processor 42 a) transmits a connection request (request)to the network 106 (delivery server 104) for downloading, the remainingnumber of times of downloading is generally subtracted by 1. Then, whenthe remaining number of times of downloading is 0, the task is deletedfrom the task list 44 e to make the task unexecutable. By setting theremaining number of times of downloading, it is possible to performdownloading at a necessary time, thereby preventing useless downloadprocess from continuously being executed even when the download is notneeded.

The task activating interval is a time interval of executing a task, andspecifically means a time (period) from execution of a task to executionof a next task. It should be noted that at a time of a task beingregistered, a next task executable time is determined by taking theregistered time as a reference. The task activating interval is set by auser, and automatically set in correspondence with the kind of thedownload data (content).

The retry margin is an allowable time when an executing time (estimatedtime) of the next task determined by an interval of activating thedownload can be delayed. For example, in a case that the power of thegame apparatus 12 is completely turned off, in a case that a failureoccurs to the network, and so forth, the task cannot be executed and anestimated time of the task may be missed in a case that a next taskexecutable state comes. Furthermore, in a case that the estimated timeis significantly delayed, the data to be downloaded itself may alreadybe unneeded. Thus, at a time of registering the task, the retry marginis set. When an estimated time is determined in correspondence with thetask activating interval, a retry allowable hour (retry allowed hour) isdetermined in correspondence with the retry margin. When the retryallowable hour expires, the task is not executed, and then deleted fromthe task list 44 e. The retry margin is set by a user, and automaticallyset depending on the kind of the download data.

The content updating interval is an average value of the intervals forupdating a content (download data) to be set in the delivery sourceconcerning the URL of the delivery source. Thus, depending on the kindof the download data, taking the average value of the intervals forupdating the download data indicated by the content activating intervalinto consideration, the task activating interval is set. Morespecifically, if the task activating interval is set to be longer thanthe content updating interval, useless downloading like acquiring thesame download data again can be eliminated. On the contrary thereto, ifthe task activating interval is set to be shorter than the contentupdating interval, missing the download of the content to be updated canbe eliminated. The average value of the update intervals may be a valuepresumed in advance, and in order to update the task, the average valueof the update intervals is acquired from the delivery server 104 everytime that the download is executed so as to update the task.

The file name is a file name applied when the download data is stored,and can be designated by an option, for example. It should be noted thatthe download data is attached with a file name, and therefore, data witha predetermined file name can be acquired without designating the filename.

It should be noted that a detailed description is made on execution ofthe task. The download data can be used in the application indicated bythe identification information (application ID). For example, in thegame application, the download data is data like an addition map, anaddition character, an addition item, etc. as to the game.

Returning to FIG. 11, the save area 44 f is an area storing (saving)data of an application, and includes a download box 440 within the area.The download box 440 is an area to store download data downloaded fromthe delivery server 104 according to a task as described above. Althoughdetailed description is omitted, an application ID for identifying theapplication registering a task is applied to the download data inadvance. It should be that the application ID is not necessarily appliedto the download data in advance, and in another embodiment, when theapplication ID is registered in the download box 440, the application IDindicated by the attribute of the task is referred so as to be applied.Thus, in a case that download data of various kinds of the applicationsis stored in the download box 440, it is possible to identify eachdownload data by the application ID. Furthermore, the save area 44 fensures an area for each application. Thus, in another embodiment, adownload box for each application may be provided in the area forstoring application data corresponding to the download data.

The database 44 g is an area for storing a message utilized in theabove-described message board function for each date, and can bereferred from another application. As described above, the receptiondata is stored in the reception message box 44 b, but since the capacityof the reception message box 44 b is limited, when the reception messagebox 44 b is full, the reception data is deleted from the oldest one.Accordingly, the database 44 g is provided for storing a message for along time and for sharing the message, and the reception data (message)except for one utilized in the individual application, such as oneattached with game data is moved to the database 44 g from the receptionmessage box 44 b. At this time, the header information of the message isreferred so as to be stored in each area of the database 44 g managedfor each date. For example, if a year, month and day, and time aredescribed as information of the message board date and time designation,the reception data is stored in the area corresponding to the designatedyear, month and day. However, if the header information of a message isnot designated by a date and time, etc., the message is stored in thearea corresponding to the date when the message is received. Themanaging method of an area for each date is only necessary to set afolder for each day and store the message in corresponding folder, forexample. Furthermore, the file name at a time of storage may be a filename representing an hour.

Although illustration is omitted, in a case that a memory card isattached to the connector for memory card 62, the content of thedatabase 44 g can be backed up in the memory card automatically or inaccordance with an instruction by the user.

The main-body application area 44 h is an area for storing a program(software) of an application incorporated as a main body function. Forexample, applications of the function (main body function) of the gameapparatus 12 itself, such as a menu program at a time of activating thegame apparatus 12, a message board function, a friend registrationfunction are stored (installed) in the main-body application area 44 h.That is, the game apparatus 12 is a game apparatus which is able to reada program of a game, etc. stored in the optical disk 18 to execute theapplication, and read a program stored in the flash memory 44 to executethe application. Furthermore, as a, the above-described software can beadded to the program to be stored in the main-body application area 44h.

Next, with reference to FIG. 13 and FIG. 14, a procedure of the friendregistration is explained. The friend registration is for registering inadvance an opponent with whom transmitting and receiving messages areallowed in the friend list 44 d. In this embodiment, a messagetransmitted from a transmission source on which a friend registration isnot performed out of the messages to be received from the mail server102 is automatically deleted. That is, in a case that messages areexchanged between the game apparatuses 12, an opponent of one's own hasto perform a friend registration on each of the game apparatuses 12.Here, in the friend registration, not that one of the game apparatus 12makes a registration, but that both game apparatuses 12 establishes arelationship to have an intention to make registration with each other,and in what follows, the relationship is called “friend relationship”.More specifically, this is a state in which game apparatuses 12 make afriend registration to finish confirming the registration with eachother, and a state in which between the game apparatus 12 and the otherterminal, a game apparatus 12 registers other terminal to therebyconfirm the allowance of the registration in the other terminal on theside of the game apparatus 12. Accordingly, in order to establish afriend relationship, a following procedure is executed between the gameapparatus 12 and other game apparatus 12 or other terminals. FIG. 13shows a procedure of the friend registration between the gameapparatuses 12, and FIG. 14 shows a procedure of a friend registrationbetween the game apparatus 12 and other terminal. The friendregistration is performed by transmitting and receiving messages. Thatis, a friend registration is executed through processing in theinput-output processor 42 a of each game apparatus 12.

In FIG. 13, in order to easily identifying two game apparatuses 12, oneof the game apparatus 12 is called a “game apparatus A”, and the othergame apparatus 12 is called a “game apparatus B”. Furthermore, in FIG.14, the game apparatus 12 is called a “game apparatus C”, and the otherterminal is called a “terminal D”.

In addition, in a friend registration, prior to the registration, bygetting in touch with users in advance or talking with each other, theidentification information of the game apparatus 12 and an e-mailaddress of other terminal have to be informed to each other. It shouldbe noted that in a case that a friend registration is performed on thegame apparatus 12 possessed by one user and other terminal, the usermerely know an e-mail address of the other terminal. A description ofthe friend registration is made according to a time axis.

First, with reference to FIG. 13, a procedure of establishing a friendrelationship between the game apparatuses 12 is explained. Aregistration in the friend list 44 d is performed by each user in thegame apparatus 12 of his own, and therefore, the timing for registrationmay be different between the game apparatuses 12, but a description ismade by regarding a game apparatus 12 which is registered first as agame apparatus A. The user of the game apparatus A inputs an e-mailaddress (identification information) of the game apparatus B in thefriend list 44 d of the game apparatus A to register it. Then, the gameapparatus A automatically transmits a message (registration message)showing that the e-mail address of the game apparatus B is registered inthe address book (friend list 44 d) to the game apparatus B. Asdescribed above, the registered message is transmitted by an electronicmail format. It should be noted that a message is automaticallytransmitted and received between the game apparatuses 12, and therefore,it is only necessary to readable by the game apparatus 12. Accordingly,the registration mail may merely be a message which is not readable by ahuman, such as a character string simply arranging alphabetic charactersand numeric characters, and an empty e-mail. In what follows, this holdstrue for a case that messages are automatically transmitted and receivedbetween the game apparatuses 12.

On the other hand, in the game apparatus B, the registration message isreceived, but as described above, a registration timing is different foreach user, and in this step, an e-mail address of the game apparatus Ais not registered, and therefore, even when the game apparatus Breceives a registration message from the game apparatus A, itimmediately deletes the registration message. At this time, the gameapparatus A is in a state that a friend relationship is not establishedwith the game apparatus B. Naturally, in the game apparatus B, a friendrelationship with the game apparatus A is not established.

Thereafter, when the user of the game apparatus B registers the e-mailaddress of the game apparatus A in the friend list 44 d of the gameapparatus B, it automatically transmits to the game apparatus A aregistration message showing that the game apparatus B registers thee-mail address of the game apparatus A in the address book. In the gameapparatus A, the e-mail address of the game apparatus B has already beenregistered in the friend list 44 d, and therefore, the game apparatus Areceives the registration message transmitted from the game apparatus Band stores it in the reception message box 44 b. This makes it possiblefor the game apparatuses to confirm the registration with each other,and therefore, a friend relationship with the game apparatus B isestablished in the game apparatus A. Then, the game apparatus Aautomatically transmits to the game apparatus B a confirmation message(reception acknowledgement message) showing that the registration mailis received from the game apparatus B.

At this time, in the game apparatus B, the e-mail address of the gameapparatus A has already be registered in the friend list 44 d, andtherefore, the game apparatus B receives the reception acknowledgementmessage transmitted from the game apparatus A to hold it in thereception message box 44 b. This makes it possible for both of the gameapparatuses to confirm the registration with each other, and therefore,a friend relationship with the game apparatus A is established in thegame apparatus B. Then, since the game apparatus B performs processingsimilar to the game apparatus A, it automatically transmits to the gameapparatus A a reception acknowledgement message. Although the gameapparatus A receives the reception acknowledgement message from the gameapparatus B, a friend relationship has already been established at thistime, and therefore, processing such as a reply, etc. is not performedin response thereto, and the reception acknowledgement message isthereafter deleted from the reception message box 44 b.

As described above, in each of the game apparatuses 12, a registrationmessage is automatically transmitted after registering the address, andin a case that a message is received after the registration, a friendrelationship is established to transmit a reception acknowledgementmessage. These processes are performed in both of the game apparatuses12 to allow each of the game apparatuses 12 to automatically establish afriend relationship after registration.

Next, with reference to FIG. 14, a description is made on a procedure ofestablishing a friend relationship between the game apparatus 12 andother terminal. The other terminal is a versatile terminal capable ofperforming electronic mail processing, and does not has a configurationof an input-output processor 42 a, etc. of the game apparatus 12, andtherefore, in a case of the game apparatus 12 and the other terminal, aregistration shall be started only from the game apparatus 12. When auser of the game apparatus C registers an e-mail address of the terminalD in the friend list 44 d of the game apparatus C, the game apparatus Ctransmits a registration message to the terminal D. It should be notedthat since the terminal D is not a game apparatus 12, in order totransmit a message to the game apparatus C, a user of the terminal D hasto send back a message to the game apparatus C. Accordingly, as aregistration message, a message to prompt the game apparatus C totransmit a reply has to be transmitted in a readable manner by the user(human) of the terminal D. For example, a registration message including“If you reply to the mail, it is possible to transmit and receiveelectronic mails with the game apparatus C” is transmitted. At thistime, a friend relationship with the terminal D is not established inthe game apparatus C.

Thereafter, the user of the terminal D sends back to the game apparatusC a message in response to the registration message from the gameapparatus C. In the game apparatus C, the e-mail address of the terminalD has already been registered in the friend list 44 d, so that when themessage is received from the terminal D, a friend relationship with theterminal D is established.

It should be noted that it is impossible to confirm the establishment ofa friend relationship in the terminal D, and therefore, from the gameapparatus C a friend relationship needs not to be established, and areception acknowledgement message also needs not to be transmitted.

Furthermore, as described above, in this embodiment, if one gameapparatus 12 registers the e-mail address of the other game apparatus 12out of the two game apparatuses 12, a friend relationship is notestablished. In such a case, although illustration is omitted, anaddress registered in one of the game apparatuses 12 is displayed in apale gray, and when a friend relationship is established thereafter, itis displayed in black, and whereby, a presence or absence ofestablishment of the friend relationship can be confirmed by a user.However, this is a merely example, and the display can be changed by thedifference in luminance in the same color or by different colors. Also,the game apparatus 12 determines the presence or absence ofestablishment of the friend relationship with the game apparatus 12 andother terminal registered in the friend list 44 d by a flag, etc. in thefriend list 44 d. For example, a flag corresponding to theidentification information of the game apparatus 12 (or e-mail address)or an e-mail address of other terminal with which a friend relationshipis established is turned on. On the other hand, a flag corresponding tothe identification information of the game apparatus 12 (or e-mailaddress) or an e-mail address of other terminal with which a friendrelationship is not established is turned off. By referring to the flag,it is possible to determine whether creating a normal message except forthe registration message is possible or impossible, and whether or notthe received message is deleted or stored in the reception message box44 b. It should be noted as means except for one utilizing a flag, forexample, an address before a friend relationship is established and anaddress after a friend relationship is established are stored in aseparate areas to determine the friend relationship.

Next, an outline of the download process to be executed by theinput-output processor 42 a is explained. In this embodiment, thedownload data is acquired from the delivery server 104. As shown in FIG.15 (A), if a certain task is registered in the task list 44 e, the taskis scheduled by taking a current time t1 as a reference. For example, inthe example shown in FIG. 15 (A), scheduling of the task is executed ata time (estimated time) t2 in accordance with an execution interval T1of the task. Additionally, the execution time T1 corresponds to the taskactivating interval of the attribute information of the task. The timecan be obtained from the ROM/RTC 48. When the task is executed, a nexttask is executed at the estimated time adding the execution time T1 tothe executing time. The downloading task decrements the remaining numberof times of downloading by one when a downloading is executed. At thistime, a scheduling of an estimated time (execution estimated time) whenthe next task is executed is made.

As shown in FIG. 15 (B), inside the input-output processor 42 a, atrigger is generated every predetermined time per unit of time of theprocessing, and at a time of generating a trigger, processing ofcomparing a trigger generation time, and the afore-stated estimated timeof transmitting and receiving of messages and an estimated time ofdownloading, etc. is performed. If the estimated time expires, theprocessing is activated. Thus, if the scheduling of the task is setafter the trigger generation, the task is executed at the next triggergeneration, and therefore, an actual executing time of the task mayslightly be delayed from the estimated time t2 set in FIG. 15 (A).

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 15 (C), execution of the task itself maybe stopped similar to a case that the power of the game apparatus 12 iscompletely off unlikely to the standby mode. In such a case, the task isexecuted after the game apparatus 12 is activated again, but along-delay of an executing time of the task may occur.

Additionally, execution of the task can temporarily be stopped orrestarted in accordance with the request from an application, and insuch a case also, a delay of an executing time of the task may occur.

If a delay of an executing time of the task occurs, the data to bedownloaded may be already useless. Therefore, if a delay occurs, a retrymargin is set for determining whether or not the execution of the taskis allowed as attribute information of the task. More specifically, whena task is executed, it is determined whether or not timing when theexecution of the task is started (current hour) is past a retryallowable time which is obtained by adding a time indicated by a retrymargin to the estimated time of the task execution. Then, if the currenttime is past the retry allowable time, the task execution is notperformed, and the task is deleted from the task list 44 e. On the otherhand, if the current time is before the retry allowable time, the taskis executed to continue the following processing.

In what follows, processing of software to be executed in each of theCPU 40 and the input-output processor 42 a is explained in detail. FIG.16 is a flowchart showing a game application process to be executed bythe CPU 40 shown in FIG. 2. It should be noted that in this embodiment,a game application is explained by way of example here, but it goeswithout saying that an application except for the game may be adopted.With reference to FIG. 16, when the CPU 40 starts the game applicationprocess, it is determined whether or not a game is to be ended in a stepS1. Here, it is determined whether or not a game is over, or whether ornot the game is to be ended in accordance with player' instruction. If“YES” in the step S1, that is, if the game is to be ended, the gameapplication processing is directly ended. On the other hand, if “NO” inthe step S1, that is, the game is not to be ended, the game process isexecuted in a step S2. Here, the CPU 40 makes a player character toexecute an arbitrary action in accordance with a player's operation,controls the movement of a non-player character, and so forth. At thistime, the GPU 42 b generates (updates) game image data in accordancewith an instruction from the CPU 40. Furthermore, the DSP 42 c generatessound data in accordance with the instruction by the CPU 40 as needed.Thus, the game is advanced.

In what follows, a description is made on a case that an instruction ofcreating the transmission data, acquiring the reception data, andacquiring the download data during the game process are generated. Here,the CPU 40 determines whether or not these instructions are input inaccordance with player's operation and in correspondence with occurrenceof a game event.

It should be noted that since depending on the kind of the application,some applications may utilizes only any one of the transmission data,the reception data, and the download data, all the instructiondetermining processes are not always executed.

First, in a step S3, it is determined whether or not a transmission datacreating instruction is issued, and if “YES” is determined, that is, ifa transmission data creating instruction is issued, the process proceedsto a transmission data creating process in a step S4 shown in FIG. 17.On the other hand, if “NO” in the step S3, that is, if a transmissiondata creating instruction is not issued, the process proceeds to a stepS5.

Next, in the step S5, it is determined whether or not a reception dataacquiring instruction is issued, and if “YES” is determined, that is, ifa reception data acquiring instruction is issued, the process proceedsto a reception data acquiring process in a step S6 shown in FIG. 18. Onthe other hand, if “NO” in the step S5, that is, if a reception dataacquiring instruction is not issued, the process proceeds to a step S7.

Next, it is determined whether or not a download data acquiringinstruction is issued in the step S7, and if “YES” is determined, thatis, if a download data acquiring instruction is issued, the processproceeds to a download data acquiring process in a step S8 shown in FIG.19. On the other hand, if “NO” in the step S7, that is, if an downloaddata acquiring instruction is not issued, the process returns to thestep S1. According to the above-described processes, reception data,transmission data, and download data can be used as necessary while thegame process is executed. Although illustration is omitted, processingof generating a downloading task under a predetermined condition inaccordance with player's operation and in correspondence with occurrenceof an event and storing it in the task list 44 e may be included.

Next, a description is made on the transmission data creating process inthe step S4, the reception data acquiring process in the step S6, andthe download data acquiring process in the step S8.

First, a description is made on the transmission data creating processin the step S4 with reference to FIG. 17. First, in a step S9, a contentof a message is created. The content of the message corresponds to thebody of the electronic mail, like a content input by a user through adisplay of a software keyboard, a content automatically generated on thebasis of the data generated in the game processing and etc. Next, in astep S10, a message in an electronic mail format including the body withthe content is generated. Here, designating the destination, etc. isperformed, and the header information shown in FIG. 10 is applied to themessage.

Next, in a step S11, it is determined whether or not the destination isthe game apparatus 12 of its own. The destination of the game apparatus12 of its own is stored in the management file 44 c described above, andthe destination is thus read to be compared with the destination of themessage. If “YES” in the step S11, the electronic mail created is storedin the reception message box 44 b in a step S12. This is a case that anote, a message, a result of the game, etc. to be viewed by a user arecreated by utilizing a message board function, and by storing it in thereception message box 44 b, the user can view it as in other receptiondata case without other processing for view being performed.

If “NO” in the step 11, the created electronic mail is stored in thetransmission message box 44 a in a step S13. The message is transmittedto a network 106 at an arbitrary timing in the input-output processor 42a independent of the processing by the CPU 40, and therefore, the gameprogram is only necessary to include processing for generating data andstoring it without preparation for a complicated program fortransmission and reception.

Next, a description is made on the reception data acquiring process inthe step S6 with reference to FIG. 18. First, in a step S14, a receptionmessage box 44 b is confirmed. Succeedingly, in a step S15, it isdetermined whether or not reception data having an application IDdirected to the application or viewable reception data is present. Thatis, the CPU 40 determines whether or not an application ID matches theapplication ID indicated by the application with reference to the headerinformation of the reception data stored in the reception message box 44b. Then, when the application ID is the information for identifying theapplication, the CPU 40 acquires the reception data. Furthermore, evenwhen the application ID does not match the application ID of theapplication, if other application restriction is turned off, the CPU 40can acquire the reception data as needed. It should be noted that theCPU 40 does not acquire the reception data except for these.

If “NO” in the step S15, that is, if reception data of the applicationID directed to the application or viewable reception data is notpresent, the reception data acquiring process is directly ended andreturned. On the other hand, if “YES” in the step 15, that is, ifreception data of the application ID directed to the application orviewable reception data is present, the reception data is read from thereception message box 44 b in a step S16. In a next step S17, theacquired reception data is stored in the main memory (42 e, 46) as gamedata. Accordingly, the reception data is utilized in the game processingthereafter. For example, in correspondence with the game processingthereafter, the reception data may be stored in the save area 44 f, andmay be removed from the main memory after being utilized in the gameprocessing.

In a step S18, it is determined whether or not the acquired receptiondata is the reception data directed to the application. If “NO” in thestep S18, that is, if the acquired reception data is not the receptiondata directed to the application, the reception data acquiring processis directly ended and returned. That is, the reception data directed toother application is naturally for being utilized for other applicationsand inhibited from being deleted. On the other hand, if “YES” in thestep 18, that is, if the reception data is the reception data directedto the application, the reception data normally need not to be left inthe message box 44 b after being acquired, and therefore, in a step S19,the reception data is deleted from the reception message box 44 b, andthe process is returned. However, if the disappearance attributes of theheader information of the reception data shows “not erase”, even if thereception data is directed to the application, the CPU 40 does notexecute the process in the step S19 and returns the processing.

Next, referring to FIG. 19, a description is made on the download dataacquiring processing in the step S8. First, in a step S23, the downloadbox 440 is confirmed. Then, in a step S25, it is determined whether ornot download data of the application is present. That is, the CPU 40determines whether or not the download data attached with theapplication ID of the application is stored in the download box 440.

If “NO” in the step S25, that is, if download data of the application isabsent, the process directly returns. On the other hand, If “YES” in thestep 25, that is, if download data of the application is present, thedownload data is read from the download box 440 in a step S27, and theacquired download data is stored as game data in the main memory (42 e,46) in a step S29, and the process is returned. Accordingly, thedownload data is utilized in the game process thereafter.

Additionally, the CPU 40 can access the internal main memory 42 e andthe external main memory 46 at higher rates of speed, and therefore, thereception data and the download data can be stored in any of thememories. For example, the reception data and the download data can bestored in the memory utilized by the game application (game program) andthe game data.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, although a description is made on acase that the CPU 40 executes the game application processing, the kindof the application need not to be restricted thereto, and similarprocessing can be executed in other kinds of the applications like imageviewing software, for example.

For example, the aforementioned message board function is also anapplication, and therefore, a similar process is performed, but themessage board function is an application for mainly creating and viewinga message, and therefore, the processes in the steps S7 and S8 are notexecuted. In what follows, with reference to FIG. 20 or FIG. 22, adescription with respect to the message board function is made on morespecific and detail processing than the above-described general (game)application. It should be noted that the description is made assumingthat the message board function here includes processing of thereception data automatically executed when the power supply of the gameapparatus 12 is turned on or in a state that the power supply of thegame apparatus 12 is turned on as well as the processing relating to thedisplay of the message board.

With reference to FIG. 20, the CPU 40 periodically determines whether ornot a message (reception data) is present in the reception message box44 b in a step S41 when the power supply of the game apparatus 12 isturned on, for example, when a menu screen is displayed. If “NO” in thestep S41, that is, if the message is not present in the receptionmessage box 44 b, the process directly proceeds to a step S45. On theother hand, if “YES” in the step 41, that is, if a message is present inthe reception message box 44 b, the message is stored in the database 44g according to the header information for each date in a step S43, andthe process proceeds to the step S45. That is, for displaying a messageon the message board for each date, the reception data within thereception message box 44 b is moved to the database 44 g. As a method ofstoring the reception data in the database 44 g for each date, forexample, a folder is created for each date, for example and a messagewith a date may be stored in the folder corresponding to the date of themessage. Furthermore, a file name of the message may be a designationrepresenting the time.

In the step S45, it is determined whether or not a message boarddisplaying instruction is issued. If “YES” in the step 45, that is, if amessage board displaying instruction is issued, the process proceeds tothe message board displaying process in a step S46 shown in FIG. 21. Onthe other hand, if “NO” in the step S45, the process returns to the stepS41. That is, with respect to an entire message board function, evenwhen the message board is not displayed, the reception data is moved tothe database 44 g. Furthermore, even during displaying the messageboard, the reception data may be moved, and if so, a message newlyreceived can be confirmed in real time while viewing the message.

Next, with reference to FIG. 21, a description is made on the messageboard display process in the step S46. First, in a step S60, it isdetermined whether or not a date is designated. The message board is fordisplaying in a menu message for each date as shown in FIG. 9, andchanging a designation of the date allows a user to view a message atthe date. As a default of the designated date, the date on which displayof the message board is performed, that is, “TODAY” is designated, andthe date can be changed at any time until the end of displaying themessage board. It should be noted that Today's date (year, month, andday) data can be acquired through an access to the ROM/RTC 48.

If “YES” in the step S60, that is, if the designated date is changed,the date is changed to the designated date in step S61. If “NO”, theprocessing relating to the display described later is performed at thesame date.

In a step S62, a process for displaying ones except for a message isperformed by arranging a background and other objects. In a step S63, itis determined whether or not a message at the designated date is presentwithin the database 44 g. More specifically, in such an embodimentstoring a message in a folder for each date, it is determined whether ornot a file is present in the folder corresponding to the date. If “NO”in the step S63, a message to be displayed is absent, and therefore, abackground except for the message is only displayed as it is, and theprocess is then returned.

If “YES” in the step 63, the CPU 40 reads a message at the date from thedatabase 44 g in a step S64. For example, in a case of the afore-statedembodiment, all the files within the folder corresponding to the dateare read. Then, in a step S65, a process relating to displaying the readmessage is performed, and a message is displayed in a menu as shown inFIG. 9.

Returning to FIG. 20, in a step S47, it is determined whether or notdisplaying the message board is to be ended. For example, if aninstruction from the user is issued, the display of the message board isended. Accordingly, if “YES” in the step 47, the process returns to thestep S41.

If “NO” in the step S47, displaying the message board is continued, butin a step S48, it is then determined whether or not a message inputinstruction is issued. On the message board, as shown in FIG. 9, amessage creation button is displayed to allow a message creation inresponse to a user's instruction. If “YES” in the step S48 according toa condition that the message creation button is operated by the user,and so on, a message input process is performed in a step S49 shown inFIG. 22. If “NO”, the process returns to the step S46 to continue todisplay the message board.

The message input process shown in FIG. 22 is processing approximatelysimilar to the processing of the transmission data creating processshown in FIG. 17, and the message creating means is performed inresponse to an input by the user. That is, in a step S50, an input ofthe message from the user is accepted. In this case, by displaying asoftware keyboard, for example, an input is accepted. Althoughillustration is omitted, if stopping the input of a destination and amessage is instructed by the user, the input of the destination and themessage is stopped, that is, the creation of the message is stopped, andthe process returns to the step S47 shown in FIG. 20. Next, it isdetermined whether or not a message input is ended in a step S51. If“NO” in the step S51, that is, if the input of the message is not ended,since the message is being inputted, the process returns to a step S50.On the other hand, if “YES” in the step 51, that is, if the input of themessage is ended, electronic mail relating to the input message iscreated in a step S53.

In what follows, the processing in the steps S53-S59 is the same as theprocessing in the steps S10-S13 shown in FIG. 17, and therefore, thedescription thereof is omitted. After completion of the message inputprocess, the process returns to the message board display process in thestep S46 to display in a menu the message to the end again.

Next, with reference to FIG. 23 or FIG. 25, a description is made on amessage transmitting and receiving process for allowing the input-outputprocessor 42 a shown in FIG. 2 to transmit and receive messages. Thefollowing processing is performed independent of the CPU 40, andexecuted even in the above-described standby mode because theinput-output processor 42 a is supplied with power. Thus, even when theuser does not activate the game apparatus 12, the game apparatus 12automatically makes the communication process in the standby mode, sothat when the user activates the game apparatus 12, a new message hasalready been arrived, allowing the user to view the message immediately.As described above, the input-output processor 42 a executes a processin accordance with a trigger generated per a predetermined unit of time.First, when a trigger is generated, it is determined whether or not atransmission and reception estimated time has come in a step S81. Here,the input-output processor 42 a acquires a time from a time circuitprovided in the ROM/RTC 48, and determines by comparison whether or notthe time is equal to the transmission and reception estimated time setin advance.

If “NO” in the step S81, that is, if the transmission and receptionestimated time has not come, the process returns to the same step S81 asit is to wait for a next trigger generation. In other words, the processin the step S81 is repeated every trigger generation until thetransmission and reception estimated time expires. On the other hand, if“YES” in the step 81, that is, if the acquired time is equal to thetransmission and reception estimated time, the game apparatus 12 isconnected to the mail server 102 in a step S83. In a succeeding stepS85, it is checked whether or not new arriving e-mail (new arrivingmessage), that is, reception data is present in the server, and in astep S87, a next accessing period is acquired from the mail server 102at the same time. It should be noted that in general, the game apparatus12 (input-output processor 42 a) is set so as to access the mail server102 for every predetermined time (10 minutes, for example), and thepredetermined time is acquired from the server every time. The change ofthe next accessing period is performed in a case that an access periodis shifted due to maintenance, increase in the load, for example.

Succeedingly, in a step S89, it is determined whether or not receptiondata or transmission data is present. Here, the input-output processor42 a determines the presence or absence of the reception data to bereceived in accordance with the check of the new arriving mail in thestep S85, and determines the presence or absence of the transmissiondata required to be transmitted by accessing the transmission messagebox 44 a. If “NO” in the step S89, that is, if reception data ortransmission data is absent, since the transmission and receptionprocess is not required, the process directly returns to the step S81.If the transmission and reception are not required, the transmission andthe reception are not performed by merely checking new arriving mail bythe step S81, and therefore, it is possible to reduce the load on thenetwork. On the other hand, if “YES” in the step 89, that is, if thereception data or the transmission data, or both of them are present, itis necessary to transmit and receive the data with the server, andtherefore, in a step S91, the data is transmitted and received with themail server 102. Here, the input-output processor 42 a executes atransmitting process for transmitting the transmission data stored inthe transmission message box 44 a to the network 106, and executes areceiving process for receiving the reception data from the mail server102 via the network 106.

In a succeeding step S93, all the transmission data transmitted in thestep S91 is deleted from the transmission message box 44 a. However, ifthe transmission data is not stored in the transmission message box 44a, and the transmitting process of the transmission data is not executedin the step S91, the input-output processor 42 a does not perform thedeleting process in the step S93, and therefore, the process directlyproceeds to a step S95. In the step S95, all the reception data receivedin the step S91 is stored (temporarily stored) in the buffer. Althoughillustration is omitted, a buffer area is provided in the internal mainmemory 42 e or the external main memory 46. The reception data stored inthe buffer is stored in the reception message box 44 b in a step S94,and a filtering process in a step S96 and an overwrite confirmingprocess in a step S97 are performed on the reception data at the sametime.

It should be noted that as a result of the checking the incoming mail,if the reception data is absent, that is, if only the transmission isperformed, no processing is performed in the step S95 and the onward,and the process directly returns to the step S81.

Next, with reference to FIG. 24, a description is made on the filteringprocess in the step S96. First, in a step S111, with reference to theheader information of all the reception data stored in the receptionmessage box 44 b and the friend list 44 d, it is determined whether ornot a friend relationship is established with each transmission source.For example, with reference to the friend list 44 d, the input-outputprocessor 42 a determines whether or not a friend relationship isestablished (a flag is turned on, for example) with respect to theinformation on the transmission source (identification information ore-mail address) described in the header information. If “YES” in thestep 111, if all the reception data is transmitted from the transmissionsource with which a friend relationship is established, the processingis returned in order to directly register them in the reception messagebox 44 b in the processing onward.

On the other hand, if “NO” in the step S111, that is, if the receptiondata is transmitted from the transmission source with which a friendrelationship is not established, it is determined whether or not thetransmission source is registered in the address book, i.e., the friendlist 44 d in a step S113. That is, it is determined whether or not thestate is that the opponent is merely registered, that is, before thefriend relationship is established. It should be noted that theprocesses in the steps S113 to S129 are performed on each of thereception data from the transmission source with which a friendrelationship is not established.

If “NO” in the step S113, that is, if the transmission source is notregistered in the address book, the new arriving e-mail (the receptiondata) is deleted from the buffer in the step S115 so as not to beregistered in the reception message box 44 b, and then, the process isreturned. That is, the message whose transmission source is unidentifiedis filtered. On the other hand, if “YES” in the step 113, that is, ifthe transmission source is registered in the address book, it isdetermined whether or not the transmission source is other terminal inthe step S117. Here, the input-output processor 42 a determines whetheror not the e-mail address does not include the identificationinformation of the game apparatus 12 as the information of thetransmission source.

If “YES” in the step 117, that is, if the transmission source of thereception data is other terminal, it is determined to be a reply to theregistration message transmitted from the game apparatus 12 as shown inFIG. 14, and a friend relationship with the other terminal isestablished (the flag corresponding to the other terminal is turned on,for example) in the step S119. Then, the process returns to the stepS81. On the other hand, if “NO” in the step S117, that is, if thetransmission source of the reception data is other game apparatus 12, itis determined whether or not the reception data is a receptionacknowledgement message shown in FIG. 13 in the step S121. Additionally,the reception acknowledgement message is a message (character string)capable of being transmitted and received with the game apparatus 12,and the content thereof is readable by each game apparatus 12 asdescribed above.

If “YES” in the step 121, that is, if the reception data is a receptionacknowledgement message, it is determined to be a receptionacknowledgement message to the registration message transmitted from thegame apparatus 12, the process directly proceeds to the step S125 inorder to establish a friend relationship with the transmission source ofthe reception data. On the other hand, if “NO” in the step S121, thatis, if the reception data is not a reception acknowledgement message, itis determined whether or not the reception data is a registrationmessage in the step S123. If “NO” in the step S123, that is, if thereception data is not a registration message, the process directlyproceeds to the step S115. On the other hand, if “YES” in the step 123,that is, if the reception data is a registration message, the processproceeds to the step S125 in order to establish the friend relationshipwith the transmission source of the reception data.

In the step S125, the input-output processor 42 a establishes a friendrelationship with the transmission source of the reception data (theflag of the friend relationship corresponding to the transmission sourceis turned on in the friend list 44 d, for example.) Succeedingly, areception acknowledgement message to be directed to the transmissionsource is created in the step S127, the created receptionacknowledgement message is stored in the transmission message box 44 ain the step S129, and the process is then returned. The receptionacknowledgement message is transmitted when the transmission andreception of a message is activated at a next time.

Succeedingly, with reference to FIG. 25, a description is made on theoverwrite confirming process in the step S97. In a step S98, anoverwrite tag of first reception data is referred. Additionally,although a detailed description is omitted, the order of the receptiondata is for merely identifying the reception data, such as an order ofreceiving the data or an order according to the storage position withinthe buffer, and etc. This holds true for the following. In a next stepS99, it is determined whether or not the reception data is to beoverwritten. Here, the input-output processor 42 a determines whether ornot the overwrite tag included in the header information of thereception data indicates “ON”.

If “NO” in the step S99, that is, if the overwriting is not performed,the process directly proceeds to a step S104. On the other hand, if“YES” in the step 99, that is, if the overwrite tag is turned on, it isdetermined whether or not reception data whose transmission source,application ID, and overwrite ID matches are equal to that of thereception data is stored in the reception message box 44 b in a stepS101. If “YES” in the step 101, that is, if reception data whosetransmission source, application ID, and overwrite ID are equal to thatof the reception data is stored in the reception message box 44 b, themessage is a message to be overwritten, and therefore, the receptiondata is stored in the reception message box 44 b such that the receptiondata is overwritten with the reception data whose transmission source,application ID, and overwrite ID are equal in a step S103, and then, theprocess proceeds to the step S104. Additionally, in this explanation,since storing the reception data in the reception message box 44 b isperformed in the step S94, the process proceeds to a next step whiletemporarily holding a setting of overwrite, or the overwrite may beperformed first in the step S103 to delete the data from the buffer, andthe data satisfying the above-described condition is only necessary tobe overwritten. On the other hand, if “NO” in the step S101, that is, ifreception data whose transmission source, application ID, and overwriteID are equal to that of the reception data is not stored in thereception message box 44 b, there is no message to be overwritten, andtherefore, the process directly proceeds to the step S104.

In the step S104, it is determined whether or not the above-describedprocessing is performed with reference to all the reception data. If“YES” in the step 104, that is, if the processing is performed withrespect to all the reception data, the process is returned. On the otherhand, if “NO” in the step S104, that is, if the processing with respectto all the reception data has not yet finished, an overwrite tag of thenext reception data is referred in a step S105, and the process returnsto the step S99.

Next, with reference to FIG. 26, a description is made on the downloadprocess of the input-output processor 42 a. The download process isexecuted by the input-output processor 42 a independent of the CPU 40,and executed also in the above-described standby mode. Furthermore, thedownload process is independently executed during execution of anapplication by the CPU 40. Additionally, the download process iscontinued to be executed with the task registered every time that atrigger is generated within the input-output processor 42 a. However,the download process is executed in each of the tasks. As shown in FIG.26, the input-output processor 42 a detects generation of the triggerfor executing a task (task executing trigger) in a step S151. If “NO” inthe step S151, that is, if the task executing trigger is not generated,the process returns to the step S151. On the other hand, if “YES” in thestep 151, that is, if the task executing trigger is generated, it isdetermined whether or not the task execution estimated time has come ina step S153. Strictly speaking, the input-output processor 42 adetermines whether or not the time is an execution estimated time, or itis after the execution estimated time.

If “NO” in the step S153, that is, if it is not the task executionestimated time, the process directly returns to the step S151. On theother hand, if “YES” in the step 153, that is, if the time is the taskexecution estimated time, it is determined whether or not it is after aretry allowable hour in a step S155. If “YES” in the step 155, that is,if it is after the retry allowable hour, the task is erased from thetask list 44 e in a step S157, and the download process is then ended.However, the download process is executed for each task, and this meansthat the task relating to the download process is ended, but thedownload process as to other task is activated in response to generationof a trigger.

On the other hand, if “NO” in the step S155, that is, it is not afterthe retry allowable hour, a connection request is transmitted to thedelivery server 104 in a step S159. That is, the input-output processor42 a sends an access request to the URL of the acquiring source of thecontent (download data) indicated by the attribute of the task.Succeedingly, in a step S161, the remaining number of times ofdownloading as to the task is subtracted by one. Here, althoughillustration is omitted, the input-output processor 42 a deletes thetask from the task list 44 e at a time when the remaining number oftimes of downloading becomes zero so as to prevent a next downloadingfrom being performed. In a step S163, a next task execution estimatedtime is scheduled.

Then, in a step S165, it is determined whether or not a connection withthe delivery server 104 is successful. If “NO” in the step S165, thatis, if a connection with the delivery server 104 is unsuccessful, theprocess directly returns to the step S151. In this embodiment, theinput-output processor 42 a directly returns to the step S151, when aconnection with the delivery server 104 is unsuccessful, but where aconnection is unsuccessful if a connection request is issued atpredetermined number of times (three times of retry, for example), theprocess may be returned to the step S151. Furthermore, in a case that anerror occurs to the network and the server, the retry may not beperformed. Furthermore, in such an error, when the above-describedsubtraction of the remaining number of times is performed, the processmay be ended without executing a download, and therefore, the process inthe step S161 is performed after the step S165 so as not to perform thesubtraction of the remaining number of times.

If “YES” in the step 165, that is, if a connection with the deliveryserver 104 is successful, downloading is executed in a step S167. Thatis, the input-output processor 42 a acquires download data. Then, in astep S169, it is determined whether or not the download data is data fora message delivery. For example, if the data for message delivery is thedata in an electronic mail format, the input-output processor 42 adetermines whether or not the acquired download data is in an electronicmail format. Or, information indicative of the message delivery data isincluded in the download data, and after execution of the download, thedownload data may be transformed into the data in an electronic mailformat in the game apparatus 12.

If “YES” in the step 169, that is, if the download data is data formessage delivery, the download data is stored in the reception messagebox 44 b as reception data in a step S171, and the process returns tothe step S151. On the other hand, if “NO” in the step S169, that is, ifthe download data is not data for message delivery, the download data isstored in the download box 440 in a step S173, and the process thenreturns to the step S151.

The above-described message transmitting and receiving process anddownload process are basically executed by the input-output processor 42a independent of the CPU 40 during execution of an application like agame application by the CPU 40 and during the stand-by mode. However, ina case that a suspend instruction is especially issued from the CPU 40(application), the message transmitting and receiving process(automatically transmitting and receiving function) is temporarilystopped. Thereafter, in response to a restart instruction from the CPU40 (application), the message transmitting and receiving process isrestarted. Such a suspend and restart function of the messagetransmitting and receiving process and the download process (hereinafterto be called a scheduler operation function) may be included in eachapplication program.

For example, in a case that the CPU 40 executes a high usageapplication, it is possible to prevent the processing speed fromtemporarily being reduced. Furthermore, in a case that a communicationprocess (playing a network game, for example) except for theabove-described message transmitting and receiving process and downloadprocess is simultaneously executed, it is possible to prevent acommunication speed from being reduced. Furthermore, in the application,depending on accessing timing to the flash memory 44, it is possible toprevent temporary reduction in an accessing speed due to concentratedaccess to the flash memory 44.

Accordingly, by utilizing such a scheduler operation function, it ispossible to temporarily stop the message transmitting and receivingprocess and download process. The scheduler operation function can becalled at any step during execution of an application. Thus, the messagetransmitting and receiving process and the download process aretemporarily stopped before mass data is read from the flash memory 44,and the message transmitting and receiving process and the downloadprocess can be restarted after completion of the reading, for example.Alternatively, at a time when the transmitting process of the message iscompleted, the message transmitting and receiving process is temporarilystopped, and then, after the message transmitting and receiving processis restarted, the receiving process of the message may be executed, forexample.

According to this embodiment, a transmitting and receiving of messagesis performed irrespective of the normal mode and the standby mode, andtherefore, the game apparatus to be communicated with each other do nothave to be activated. Furthermore, the data capable of identifying theapplication is transmitted and received by a main body function, andtherefore, a communication function is not required to be provided foreach application, is thus capable of cutting down on the cost.Furthermore, there is no need to be connected to the network duringcreation of a message, and therefore, it is possible to save a work by auser and cut down on the communication cost. Accordingly, it is possibleto provide a communication method in high general versatility with lesscost and user's work.

In this embodiment, in a case that the overwrite ID of the overwrite tagindicates “overwrite”, when the previous message whose information ofthe transmission source, application ID, and overwrite ID are equal tothat of the acquired message is present in the reception message box 44b, the previous message is overwritten by the current message. However,there may be a case that an older message may be received after thelatest message. In such a case, the latest message may be overwritten bythe older message. Furthermore, there may be a case that a muchimportant message is overwritten by a less important message.

For avoiding such a disadvantage, information (priority ID) indicativeof priority of overwriting depending on newness and importance of themessage is added. For example, the priority ID is numeric, and thelarger the number is, the higher the priority is while the smaller thenumber is, the lower the priority is. Accordingly, when a message isreceived, in a case that the information of the transmission source, theapplication ID, and the overwrite ID of the message are coincident withthat of the previous message and the number indicated by the priority IDis larger, the previous message is overwritten by the message.

Furthermore, in the game apparatus 12 of other embodiment, a messageautomatic reply function may be provided. The other embodiment is thesame as the above-described embodiment except for provision of themessage automatic reply function, and therefore, a redundant explanationis omitted. In the game apparatus 12 of the other embodiment, messageautomatic reply information is described so as to be added to the headerinformation of the message or included in the header information. Theautomatic reply information is identified by three kinds like “notautomatically reply”, “automatically reply (copy attribute)”, and“automatically reply (move attribute)”.

For example, if a message is auto-replied, identification information(message ID) for identifying the message including information as to atransmittable state is applied. In a case that the message ID is addedto the message (transmission data), the transmission data is in thestand-by state even in the message transmitting and receiving processwithout being transmitted to the network 106. By deleting the messageID, the message becomes a transmittable state, and transmitted in amessage transmitting and receiving process to be executed at the nexttime. In this embodiment, in a case that reception data added with amessage ID the same as the message ID, the message ID added to thetransmission data is deleted.

However, in the other embodiment, the reception data to which themessage ID the same as the message ID added to the transmission data isadded is received, the message ID of the transmission data is deleted.It should be noted that a message ID added to the reception data (forconvenience of explanation, referred to as “receiving side message ID”)does not have to be the same as the message ID added to the transmissiondata (for convenience of explanation, referred to as “sending sidemessage ID”). For example, the receiving side message ID and the sendingside message ID has a relationship of a pair of (a set of) keys, and thesending side message ID may be solved by the receiving side message ID.Furthermore, irrespective of the content of the receiving side messageID, by deleting the sending side message ID, a reply is transmitted toall the apparatuses which make a reply request.

Thus, the user separately transmits or notifies by other means a messageID the same (or a pair of (a part of)) as the message ID of thetransmission data to other user with whom an automatic reply is made.However, the user can know a message ID to be separately transmitted bya notification (screen display) from the game apparatus 12 (input-outputprocessor 42 a) when creating a message for auto-reply.

When a reply (transmission request) to the message ID notifying messageor a message to which a separately notified message ID is added isreceived from the user to which the message ID has separately beentransmitted, the message ID added to the transmission data is deleted,the transmission data sets in a transmittable state, and then can betransmitted to the game apparatus 12 of other user and other terminal.That is, it is possible to make an auto reply to other user.

In what follows, an example of utilizing the auto-reply of thisembodiment in the game is explained. For example, in this application,it is supposed that a player can produce a weapon (item) for himself,and can sell the weapon in a flea market. In such a case, a user A whichproduces an original weapon sells the weapon in the flea market. Thatis, an application on the user A side registers a message includingweapon data as an auto-reply message (message attached with message ID)in the transmission message box 44 a. At this time, the application onthe user A side can know a message ID of the message including weapondata. The application on the user A side transmits the message ID of themessage including the weapon data to the user B. An application on theuser B side notifies a user B that “a weapon is sold in a user A's fleamarket” by a message. When the user B determines to buy the weapon, theapplication on the user B side transmits to the user A a message ID of amessage including weapon data and a message utilizing an auto-replyfunction of designating “move attribute”. The user A side which hasreceived the message including the auto-reply function from the user Bsearches whether or not transmission data (message) to which thedesignated message ID is added is present in the transmission messagebox 44 a by a message transmitting and receiving function. Then, if thetransmission data (message) to which the designated message ID is addedis present in the transmission message box 44 a, an attribute for anauto-reply (message ID, here) is deleted, and the transmission data ismade transmittable. Thereafter, transmission data including the weapondata is sent so as to be directed to the user B.

In a case that the move attribute is thus designated, the transmissiondata (weapon data) is not copied but deleted after replying once.Additionally, if the copy attribute is designated, when the attributefor an auto-reply is deleted from the transmission data, a copy of thetransmission data is held in a transmittable manner in the transmissionmessage box 44 a. Depending on the difference in purposes, that is,depending on whether an auto-reply is performed only once or every time,respective attributes can be discriminated.

In the above-described embodiment, the auto-reply function is utilizedfor selling and buying a weapon in the game, and the object to beutilized is not limited to the weapons, and can be used in variouspurposes like an exchange of items and characters, an exchange of ahistory, etc.

A detailed processing for an auto-reply is made by modifying a part ofthe message transmitting and receiving process shown in theabove-described embodiment. Additionally, the embodiment is the same asthe above-described embodiment except for the modified part, andtherefore, a description is made on only the different part. Although adetailed description is omitted, in the message input process in theabove-described embodiment, it is only necessary to select (set) “copyattribute” and “move attribute” at a time of making electronic mail.

If “YES” in the step 89 shown in the message transmitting and receivingprocess shown in FIG. 23, the processes shown in the steps S91, S93, andS95 become processes shown in FIG. 27. In a step S201, firsttransmission data in the transmission message box 44 a is checked. In asucceeding step S203, it is determined whether or not the transmissiondata is transmittable. More specifically, the input-output processor 42a determines whether or not a message ID is added to the transmissiondata.

If “NO” in the step S203, that is, if the transmission data isuntransmittable, the process directly proceeds to a step S209. On theother hand, if “YES” in the step 203, that is, if the transmission datais transmittable, the transmission data is transmitted to the network106 in a step S205. Then, in a step S207, the transmission data isdeleted from the transmission message box 44 a, and then, the processproceeds to the step S209.

In the step S209, it is determined whether or not a transmission controlis executed on all the transmission data. If “NO” in the step S209, thatis, if a transmission control of all the transmission data is notexecuted, next transmission data is checked in a step S211, and then,the process returns to the step S203. On the other hand, if “YES” in thestep 209, that is, if a transmission control of all the transmissiondata is executed, reception data is received from the mail server 102 ina step S213, and then, the process proceeds to the step S95.

Furthermore, a process shown in FIG. 28 is executed after the step S94in the message transmitting and receiving process. When the receptiondata is stored in the reception message box 44 b in the step S94, it isdetermined whether or not the reception data has a message ID in a stepS221. If “NO” in the step S221, that is, if the reception data does nothave a message ID, the process directly proceeds to a step S224. On theother hand, if the reception data has a message ID in the step S221, thetransmission data including the message ID is set to be transmittable ina step S223, and then, the process proceeds to the step S224. That is,in the step S223, if “copy attribute” is designated as an attribute ofthe auto-reply function, a copy of the transmission data to which amessage ID the same as the message ID included in the reception data isadded is stored in the transmission message box 44 a, and the copy ismade transmittable. Furthermore, in the step S223, if “move attribute”is designated as an attribute of the auto-reply function, from thetransmission data to which a message ID the same as the message IDincluded in the reception data, the message ID is deleted to make thetransmission data transmittable.

However, when the transmission data which is made transmittable isstored in the transmission message box 44 a, the transmission data istransformed in an electronic mail format, and an e-mail address of thegame apparatus 12 which request an auto reply is automaticallyregistered as a destination. However, the processes in the S221, S223,and S224 may be performed on not the data stored in the receptionmessage box 44 b, but may be performed on the data held in the buffer.

According to the other embodiment, by means of the auto-reply function,it is possible to exchange a specific item with a specific user, andgive a specific item to a specific user. Thus, it is possible to providea communication environment increased in customer convenience inaddition to the advantage in the above-described embodiment.

While the exemplary embodiments have been described above, it is to beunderstood that they are not to be limited to the above disclosedembodiments but on the contrary, is intended to cover variousmodifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit andscope of the appended claims.

1. A game apparatus capable of executing an application by exchangingdata via a network comprising a plurality of apparatuses, said gameapparatus comprising: communication programmed logic circuitry fortransmitting and receiving data with other apparatuses of said networkvia said network; a storage location comprising a transmission datastorage location for storing data to be transmitted to other apparatusesof said network and a received data storage location for storingreceived data from other apparatuses of said network; at least oneapplication processing programmed logic circuitry for executing adesired application, with access to both the transmission data storagelocation and the received data storage location; andtransmission-reception managing programmed logic circuitry forcontrolling communication via said communication programmed logiccircuitry, transmitting data to other apparatuses of said network storedin said transmission data storage location to the network, and storingin said received data storage location data capable of identifying atargeted application received from other apparatuses of said network;wherein said application processing programmed logic circuitry, whenexecuting said application, performs a transmission data storing processfor generating data to be transmitted to other apparatuses over thenetwork, making the data identifiable as data for said application andstoring it in said transmission data storage location, and a receiveddata acquiring process for acquiring data for an application to executewhen said data exists in the reception data storage location.
 2. Thegame apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a switch forswitching between a normal electric power state allowing execution ofsaid application and a stand-by state not allowing execution of saidapplication by restricting electric power consumption, wherein saidtransmission-reception managing programmed logic circuitry causes saidcommunication programmed logic circuitry to make a communication in atleast said stand-by state.
 3. The game apparatus according to claim 2,further comprising a first processing unit being said applicationexecuting programmed logic circuitry, a second processing unit beingsaid transmission-reception managing programmed logic circuitry, and anenergization controlling switch for energizing said first processingunit and said second processing unit in said normal state, anddeenergizing said first processing unit but energizing said secondprocessing unit in said stand-by state.
 4. The game apparatus accordingto claim 1, wherein said storage location is a nonvolatile memory. 5.The game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein saidtransmission-reception managing programmed logic circuitry deletes saidtransmission data after transmitting it, and said application processingprogrammed logic circuitry performs a deleting process on the receiveddata after said received data acquiring process.
 6. The game apparatusaccording to claim 5, wherein said application processing programmedlogic circuitry executes another application data acquiring process forreceiving data for another application, and does not perform saiddeleting process when the received data is the data for the otherapplication.
 7. The game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein saidreception data includes identification information including applicationidentification information for identifying an application, transmissionsource information for indicating a transmission source, and overwriteinformation for indicating whether or not overwriting of data isallowable, said transmission-reception managing programmed logiccircuitry compares said identification information from the receiveddata with said identification information already stored in the receiveddata storage location, and if said identification information is thesame, overwrites said data in the received data area storage location.8. The game apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said received datafurther includes overwrite priority information indicating priority ofoverwriting, and said transmission-reception managing programmed logiccircuitry overwrites data when the priority information of the receiveddata shows an overwrite priority higher than the priority information ofthe data already stored.
 9. The game apparatus according to claim 1,wherein said transmission data and said received data are data in anelectronic mail format, and are transmitted and received with anothergame apparatus via a mail server.
 10. The game apparatus according toclaim 9, wherein said storage location further includes an address bookstorage location for storing address book data in order to register ane-mail address of a predetermined opponent, and saidtransmission-reception managing programmed logic circuitry includesfiltering programmed logic circuitry such that when said received datais not transmitted from an opponent registered in said address book, thereceived data is deleted.
 11. The game apparatus according to claim 10,further comprising a notifying protocol which generates transmissiondata with a predetermined content directed to an e-mail when said e-mailaddress is added to said address book, and storing it in saidtransmission data storage location, and a registering protocol whichregisters said e-mail address as an opponent with whom data is allowedto be transmitted and received when the data transmitted from said addede-mail address is acquired from the received data storing programmedlogic circuitry.
 12. The game apparatus according to claim 9, whereinsaid application includes a message application for creating and viewinga message in said electronic mail format, and said message applicationstores a created message in said storage location in said electronicmail format, and displays the acquired message from said storagelocation on a display.
 13. The game apparatus according to claim 12,wherein said message application, when a destination of the createdmessage is an e-mail address associated with a second game apparatus,stores said message in said received data storage location in saidelectronic mail format.
 14. The game apparatus according to claim 1,wherein said application processing programmed logic circuitry performsa pausing process to request said transmission-reception managingprogrammed logic circuitry to temporarily prohibit transmission andreception before and after the transmission data storing process and/orsaid received data acquiring process.
 15. The game apparatus accordingto claim 1, wherein said application processing programmed logiccircuitry further executes a communication process for communicatingwith the network without executing said transmission data storingprocess or said received data acquiring process, and a pausing processfor requesting said transmission-reception managing programmed logiccircuitry to temporarily prohibit the transmission and the receptionduring said communication process.
 16. The game apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein said application processing programmed logic circuitrystores in said transmission data storage location transmission dataincluding stand-by information indicative of holding transmission insaid transmission data storing process, and said transmission-receptionmanaging programmed logic circuitry sets said transmission data in atransmittable state by deleting the transmission stand-by informationwhen said received data includes reply request information.
 17. The gameapparatus according to claim 1, wherein said application processingprogrammed logic circuitry stores transmission data includingtransmission stand-by information indicative of holding transmission insaid transmission data storage location, and said transmission-receptionmanaging programmed logic circuitry creates transmittable transmissiondata by storing a copy of the transmission data from which thetransmission stand-by information is deleted in said transmission datastorage location when the received data includes reply requestinformation.
 18. The game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein saidstorage location further includes a downloaded data storage location forstoring data downloaded from a download server, further comprising adownload managing programmed logic circuitry which makes a communicationwith the network in a preset schedule, and stores downloaded data foreach targeted application in said downloaded data storage location, suchdata being identifiable with a targeted application downloaded from thenetwork storage location, and said application processing programmedlogic circuitry includes a downloaded data acquiring process for readingsaid downloaded data for said target application when said downloadeddata for said application exists in said downloaded data storagelocation.
 19. The game apparatus according to claim 18, furthercomprising a notification data storage location for storing notificationdata for indicating a notification to a user regarding said downloadeddata in said received data storage location.
 20. A game apparatus fortransmitting and receiving data with another apparatus via a networkcomprising a plurality of game apparatuses, and executing a game programfor utilizing the transmitted and received data, the game apparatuscomprising: a communication portion for transmitting and receiving datawith another game apparatus of said network; transmission-receptionmanaging programmed logic circuitry for causing said communicationportion to transmit and receive data; a reply data storage location forstoring predetermined reply data for an auto-reply; a received datastorage location for storing received data; game processing programmedlogic circuitry for executing a game program designated by a user, andperforming game processing by utilizing said received data; receiveddata determining programmed logic circuitry for, when saidtransmission-reception managing programmed logic circuitry transmits andreceives data with another game apparatus of said network, storing saiddata in said received data storage location, and determining whether ornot reply request information for indicating a request of a reply isincluded in said received data; and an automatic reply programmed logiccircuitry which automatically reads said reply data from said reply datastoring location, and transmits it via said communication portion whenthe received data includes said reply request information.
 21. The gameapparatus according to claim 20, wherein said automatically replyingprogrammed logic circuitry deletes said reply data from said reply datastorage location after completion of transmitting said reply data. 22.The game apparatus according to claim 20, wherein said automaticallyreplying programmed logic circuitry reads and sends back said reply dataevery time that data is received.
 23. The game apparatus according toclaim 21, wherein said game processing programmed logic circuitryexecutes a game program for dealing with an item in a game via thenetwork, said reply data includes data relating to said item and thereceived data further includes indication information of intent to agreewith dealing with the item, and said game processing programmed logiccircuitry transmits transmission data including data relating to saiditem in response to the received data including said reply requestinformation by said automatic reply programmed logic circuitry tothereby get a deal in the game.
 24. The game apparatus according toclaim 23, wherein said game processing programmed logic circuitryincludes a notifying process for causing said communication portion totransmit notification data for making the deal.
 25. A non-transitorymachine readable storage medium storing a game program of a gameapparatus, said game apparatus having a communication programmed logiccircuitry for transmitting and receiving data via a network of aplurality of apparatuses with another apparatus, and a storage locationhaving a transmission data storage location for storing transmissiondata to be transmitted to another apparatus and a received data storagelocation for storing received data from another apparatus, and allowingexecution of an application using data via said network, said gameprogram making said game apparatus function as: application processingprogrammed logic circuitry which is capable of executing a desiredapplication, and is accessible to said transmission data storagelocation and said received data storage location; andtransmission-reception managing programmed logic circuitry forcontrolling said communication programmed logic circuitry'scommunication with a network, transmitting said transmission data storedin said transmission data storage location to another apparatus of saidnetwork, and storing in said received data storage location receiveddata capable of identifying a targeted application received from anotherapparatus of said network; wherein said application processingprogrammed logic circuitry, by executing said application, performs: atransmission data storing process for generating transmission data to betransmitted to the other apparatus, and making the data identifiable asdata for said application and storing it in said transmission datastorage location, and a received data acquiring process for acquiring,in a case that said received data for said application exists in saidreceived data storage location, said received data for said applicationto execute processing utilizing said received data, so that utilizationof data via the network is performed.
 26. A non-transitory machinereadable storage medium storing a game program of a game apparatus whichtransmits and receives data with another apparatus via a network of aplurality of apparatuses, and utilizes said transmitted and receiveddata, said game program making said game apparatus function as: acommunication portion for transmitting and receiving data from anotherapparatus of said network; transmission-reception managing programmedlogic circuitry for causing said communication portion to transmit andreceive data; a reply data storage location for storing predeterminedreply data for an auto-reply; a received data storage location forstoring received data; game processing programmed logic circuitry forexecuting a game program designated by a user to perform game processingusing said received data; received data determining programmed logiccircuitry for, when said transmission-reception managing programmedlogic circuitry receives data from another apparatus of said network,storing said received data in said received data storage location, anddetermining whether or not reply request information for indicating arequest of a reply is included in said received data; and automaticreply programmed logic circuitry for automatically reading said replydata from said reply data storage location, and transmitting it via saidcommunication portion in a case that the received data stored in saidreceived data storage location includes said reply request information.